The South African strain is terrifying. It involves a significant modification of the spike protein, which could render every single vaccine useless. Both the mRNA vaccines and the traditional virus vaccines would need completely to be retooled.
Could be done quickly in the case of the mRNA vaccines (that's why they're so slick), but given the massive political incompetence on view almost everywhere, this is going to mean, if true, that the pandemic drags on indefinitely.
So sooner or later, every government is going to face the same choice: massive death tolls or complete quarantines.
Sorry to begin your morning on a glum note. It will get worse later today when @cosmo_globalist publishes its assessment of the new China-EU investment deal. On the bright side, I thought I was totally out of coffee, but found a Nespresso capsule behind the coffeemaker.

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More from @ClaireBerlinski

1 Jan
I'm aware that these are not new questions. “Why does God12 give light to one who is in misery, and life to those whose soul is bitter ... ‘He destroys the blameless and the guilty; If a scourge brings sudden death,he mocksat the despairof the innocent....
He reveals the deep things of darkness, and brings deep shadows into the light. He makes nations great,
and destroys them; he extends the boundaries of nations
and dispersesthem.He deprives the leaders of the earth
of their understanding;
he makes them wander in a trackless desert waste.They grope about in darkness without light; he makes them stagger like drunkards ... Why do the wicked go on living, grow old, even increase in power? Their children are firmly established
in their presence ...
Read 4 tweets
1 Jan
Does anyone else feel survivor's guilt upon waking up in 2021 and realizing you made it through but then thinking of everyone who didn't? I've been trying to figure out whether it makes sense to thank God for my good fortune--
but the usual theodicy problem is just staring me in the face. Why would I thank a God who randomly struck dead 344K of my fellow citizens--and nearly 2 million worldwide, left countless more homeless, hungry, and despairing, and killed my friends?
I truly don't think I was more deserving of surviving this year. Maybe I was a better person than *some* of the people who died, but no way am I a better person than the doctors and nurses who, knowing full well the danger, kept trying to save their patients lives--
Read 5 tweets
30 Dec 20
I don't know. Because it has to be mandatory. That's the scientific reality. The thing will keep mutating; the mutations are entirely likely to be more infectious and more lethal, and the virus must be *eradicated."
This virus is the greatest threat to public health since the Spanish Flu; and it will continue to be a threat until the virus is eradicated. I mean completely eradicated, gone, disappeared, extinguished. It cannot be treated as a serious flu. It is far more serious.
It is a fucking killer and it is only a question of time before it becomes more contagious and more lethal, so time is of the essence. The mRNA vaccines are more effective in the short run than traditional vaccines.
Read 7 tweets
30 Dec 20
Peut-être que si je veux que ce conseil atteigne son public cible, je devrais essayer d'utiliser la langue qu'ils lisent. Si quelqu'un pense que la France réussit à vacciner ses citoyens rapidement, laissez-moi vous détromper de cette fatuité dès maintenant.
Jusqu'à récemment, j'ai plutôt soutenu le gouvernement de Macron. Travail pénible. Un peuple dur à gouverner.

Après cette débâcle? Si j'étais citoyen français, je voterais probablement pour les communistes ou les fascistes (et ce sont probablement les options, à ce rythme).
Si les gars qui sont au moins censés être des technocrates compétents ne peuvent pas gérer une campagne de vaccination et qui offrent des excuses idiotes--
Read 11 tweets
30 Dec 20
If anyone in the US thinks France is doing any better with "expeditious vaccination," let me disabuse you of that conceit right now. Until recently, I've been fairly supportive of Macron's government. Tough job, tough people to govern.
After this? If I were a French citizen, I'd probably vote for the communists or the fascists (and those probably will be the options, at this rate). If the guys who're at least supposed to be competent technocrats can't manage a vaccination campaign--
--and offer idiotic excuses like, "Well, we're taking it slowly because, you know, France is full of lunatic anti-vaxxers and we don't want to frighten them"--I'm not making that up, folks, an aide to the health minister said exactly that, yesterday--
Read 9 tweets
25 Dec 20
Merry Christmas, Christian friends! I know that for many of you, this will be the first Christmas you've spent alone in your home, far from your family, and bereft of your Christmas traditions.
Fortunately, Jews are here to help you get through this. See, this is what we always do on Christmas, and over the years, we've developed pandemic-proof Christmas traditions that you too can adopt. Here's how you do it:
1) Order Chinese food.
Read 9 tweets

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