BBC Radio London with Petrie Hosken

Conversation with, @PetrieHosken on @BBCRadioLondon
New lineage of the SARS-CoV-2, Coronavirus may be circulating, it may be more infectious, not more serious disease causing. The important bit is don’t drop your guard, maintain infection control. Don’t get infected, don’t infect others.

A programme of mass immunisation, using the one dose to immunise many people,as fast as possible, merits serious consideration, as some immunity from the 1st dose, preventing severe disease and death, in the middle of a crisis, is worthy of consideration and ought not to be discarded.

The right calibre, brave and outside the box thinking experts and modellers need to be engaged to consider this scenario of using the available vaccines to immunise as many people as is possible, very very quickly.

Viruses, like this SARS-CoV-2, RNA one, do frequently mutate and change . The key will be if it is more infectious and disease causing in the younger age population. This will determine how schools will operate in 2021.

There is no reason to suspect that existing immunity will not work against the new lineage of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Similarly no reason to suspect that the vaccines will not work. In any case vaccines can be refashioned if need be.

#BharatPankhania

24 12 2020 0730 hrs