Lubbock experts discuss COVID-19 variants | News

COVID-19 variants across the United States pose a new threat as the Lubbock Department of Public Health continues to vaccinate citizens. Lubbock experts discussed with the variants whether the vaccine would prevent them.

Dr. Ron Cook of the Lubbock Public Health Service said that the coronavirus is an RNA virus and is composed of spike proteins. Spikes are made up of three different parts, three small puzzle pieces that Cook called.

According to Cook, when a virus duplicates one of the pieces in a puzzle, it can change shape, which is called a mutation.

“It still fits, but it changes a bit. The immune system is so efficient that it creates antibodies that fit that one type of peplomer,” Cook said. “So when that small part changes, it avoids a kind of immune system.”

According to Cook, the way to stop mutations is to stop replication, and vaccines are an important part of stopping replication.

So far, the vaccine seems to work against California and UK variants, but the more replicated the virus, the more likely it is that the vaccine will not affect the vaccine. Cook says this is why people should be vaccinated.

“Our concern is that if it continues to replicate, if we don’t stop it, we’ll have new mutants that don’t see the immune system when vaccinated,” Cook said.

Although the variants do not appear to be more deadly than the original coronavirus, Cook remains important to respect the virus by obtaining the vaccine and continuing to wear a mask until herd immunity is achieved. Said.

Cook explained how herd immunity works and the role that vaccines play in it.

According to Cook, if an infected person goes to a group of 10 people, the virus will stop at the infected person if all are vaccinated. However, if the infected person goes to a group of 10 people and only one of them is vaccinated, the virus can spread to those 9 people and then to another group.

Dr. Victor Test, a pulmonologist at Texas Tech Health Sciences Center, discussed mutations.

Mutations alter the protein of the virus, and the virus constantly mutates to survive, the test said. They want to be more infectious, but less deadly.

“If they are very infectious, very deadly, and develop very quickly, what happens is that the epidemic disappears,” the test said. “The virus has evolved to become more infectious and may not really be a problem.”

In Texas, the proportion of variants is still low and vaccines seem to prevent them. Tests have shown that the vaccine is more immune than previous COVID-19 infections.

“This kind of thing is premium and focused on everyone who is actively and competently vaccinated, as the more infected the community is, the more likely it is to get a variant.” The test states.

British variants are exploding in the northeastern United States and appear to be affecting younger individuals even more, but Cook may not have had the opportunity to vaccinate these individuals yet. I said it was for.

Five variants have been identified in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website. These include two variants: the British variant, the South African variant, the Brazilian variant, and the California variant. These variants appear to be more infectious, but less deadly. According to Cook, Lubbock identified a case of a California variant.

If students want to be vaccinated, United Super Markets will host a vaccine clinic at the United Super Markets Arena every Thursday in April, and the Vaccine Clinic in the Laboc Memorial Civic Center Exhibition Hall will continue to host vaccine clinics until May 1. Said Cook. ..