Thread by @vipintukur

It’s a delusion to think mass spread of Omicron will end the pandemic

The idea that herd immunity from widespread Omicron infection will last longer than a few months is a mass delusion propagating in all forms of media. 1/

https://twitter.com/blakemmurdoch/status/1488163797168623616

It’s the type of delusion sure to gain traction in a world where we are all absolutely sick and tired of the pandemic. It even ignores reality from three months ago, when Omicron didn’t exist and the idea of us benefitting from infecting everyone was a widely condemned idea. 2/

The reality is we are causing COVID-19 to mutate on a scale never seen before. By allowing the virus to infect much of the world, we are generating trillions upon trillions of viruses. 3/

Because the world has chosen not to pursue adequate public health measures, new variants will be evolutionarily selected for their ability to evade protection from vaccination and infection. 4/

And by the way, variants aren’t invariably milder than those they precede – Alpha and Delta were both more severe than the original strain. 5/

Though there will undoubtedly be other variants, the heir apparent to Omicron is likely already known: Omicron BA.2. This strain is best understood as its own variant because it has so many additional mutations. 6/

BA.2 may soon get its own Greek letter name from the WHO, because it is dominant in India and growing exponentially in Europe by heavily outcompeting Omicron there. 7/

If we continue to treat Omicron’s transmissibility as an intractable problem that makes infection inevitable, we are accepting that, without a scientific silver bullet that so far doesn’t exist, we may be stuck in this pandemic indefinitely. 8/

We need to look past what is right in front of our noses. If we keep approaching every variant as if it will be the last, we will never get out of this. 9/

The people who have been saying “this isn’t over” have been ignored at almost every step of this pandemic, and they have also been right every time.
Let the science overtake the pace of viral mutation!! 10/

theglobeandmail.com/opinion/articl…