Thanks ever so much to whoever suggested I might have covid

[conuly]

I think you jinxed me. Well, at least I feel justified in my whining. The headache/toothache has really been excruciating.

How can the symptoms be so wildly different from the previous time, though!? Last time I had no voice and couldn't stay awake at all. Now I'm mostly awake and carefully rationing out sudafed, but I can even sing.

Comments

[gwydion]

The latest variant is so genetically distinct from the early versions, that the original vaccines don't have any effect and the bivalent that came out last Septemberish only gives partial coverage. (Partial is way safer than none). No one who had COVID more than six months ago likely has residual immunity for the new variant based on the one they caught back then.

The new variant has a different symptom profile than the previous ones, with some old symptoms dropping out and some new ones popping up.

I just wanted you to know that it's not weird that it's different this time around.

[conuly]

The latest variant is so genetically distinct from the early versions, that the original vaccines don't have any effect and the bivalent that came out last Septemberish only gives partial coverage.

Wait, is that something you've read somewhere!?

[gwydion]

There's been reporting. it's why the US is no longer distributing the original shots.

Here's a thing on Arcturus Variants: https://www.unmc.edu/healthsecurity/transmission/2023/04/11/arcturus-a-highly-transmissible-covid-variant-eyed-by-the-who-appears-to-have-a-new-symptom-heres-what-you-need-to-know/

"COVID vaccines: FDA retires monovalent shots, offers spring boosters to some:" https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/04/fda-authorizes-spring-covid-boosters-for-older-adults-immunocompromised/

* Easy to read summary with essential info. "FDA Revamps COVID-19 Vaccination:" https://www.hivplusmag.com/covid-19/fda-revamps-covid-19-vaccination

[steorra]

Nothing in there says that the original shots are completely ineffective against the new variants.

[gwydion]

I can did back further if you like.

[mindstalk]

"the original vaccines don't have any effect"

This is sloppy language. There are multiple levels/types of immunity or protection.

vs infection: yeah, close to nothing

vs. severity/death: still quite a lot.

Antibodies are made to the end of the coronavirus spike protein, that being about all they can 'see'; this is what can prevent infection[1] but the spike end is highly mutable thus protection is brittle.

Killer T cells response to protein fragments presented by infected cells, including from the body of the spike protein; this is far less mutable, so the ability to execute infected cells doesn't decline much. Sadly, that ability isn't enough to reliably prevent long covid, else we could be a lot more relaxed about infections.

[1] High levels of circulating antibodies are what actually prevents infection. Memory B cells spew a lot more antibodies 4-5 days after infection, but that's obviously too late. For fast diseases like covid for flu, which can infect a new person in 2-3 days, B cells don't even break transmission.