I have questions about the SA variant of COVID.
1: Will the newer UK variant which is fast spreading, become dominant meaning there is less opportunity for the SA variant to break through?
.. I think our own version is already now dominant in the UK. (Might be wrong.)
So far as I know we don't have any SA strain yet. Let's assume it arrives, what would happen then? Depends on the answer to 2. Since the other strains have been through a decent portion of the pop. AND the UK strain is more infectious, AND the UK strain had a head start, it might be less of a problem than first appears. If we have some level of protection against it from past exposure to the Wuhan and UK variants, as well as the vaccinated portion of our community, then, again, it is less of an issue.
If it is sufficiently different that it is unrecognised by our immune system and vaccines, then you can treat it as a new pandemic of a different disease close to Day 1. Personally, I think this is unlikely. Even if so, the vaccine would be an update, and much quicker to come online.
2: Are people who have already caught non SA COVID be vulnerable to it?
.. This is the big worry. The answer is that we don't know yet. There are worrying signs that blood from some recovered patients of the Wuhan strain doesn't do much against it. However, the trials are in very small numbers and seem to be all over the place - some do, some don't. Also, the reaction in a dish can be very different from the reaction in a human bean.
3: Does it mean people will need a new/modified vaccination to be immune?
.. As above.[/QUOTE]