Coronavirus public health Q&A: How do variants develop?
Posted November 29, 2021 12:15 pm.
Last Updated December 28, 2021 5:46 pm.
We know you have concerns about the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and we’re working to get you answers, straight from the most trusted sources in a series of LIVE Q&As where experts and officials will answer your questions.
This week’s Q&A topic is the new COVID-19 variant Omicron and public health measures.
Toronto’s Associate Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Vinita Dubey, will answer your questions in a LIVE interview on Wednesday, Dec. 1 at 12:30 p.m. on our YouTube page as well as here on our website.
Watch the full interview with Dilshad Burman in conversation with Dr. Vinita Dubey in the video above.
One of the questions Dr. Dubey answered was how variants are created and how to stop them from developing.
Dr. Dubey says:
Variants — what that means is that the virus has essentially changed or mutated, and that’s what viruses do. Viruses actually change, they mutate, they’re always trying to, better themselves, I guess.
Every time a virus infects another person, when it continues to spread, that is when the change or the mutation can happen. So that is how variants develop.
When we block the spread of the virus, we can actually also block the creation of new variants. That’s why actually getting high vaccination rates around the world will help us to protect against future variants being formed. So if you have a highly vaccinated population, if COVID is not spreading, you’re less likely to get variants created there.
Vaccines can work even when there is a variant. The way the vaccines work is they recognize the spike protein. So even if there are changes in the spike protein, as long as the general structure of the spike, protein is recognized by the body you’re body’s antibodies in the immune system will respond.
So sometimes even if you have a big change in the variant, there can be what we call ‘cross protection.’ We see that with the influenza virus, for example, and so that you can still get enough protection to keep you say, out of hospital.
Watch the doctor’s answer below:
Here are a few more questions Dr. Dubey addressed:
(Questions were moderated and have been edited for grammar, punctuation and clarity)
Q: What are the risks posed to children who are too young to be vaccinated when it comes to Omicron?
A: There’s still actually a lot that we don’t know, so I’m sorry that this will be unsatisfying for many, but we’re still trying to find out more.
What we do know though, is that from the variants that we’ve had in Ontario — we had the original strain of COVID and then in the spring we had the Alpha variant and then the Delta variant took over after that in the summer — and of these three different strains of COVID that we’ve had, the vaccines have worked, actually they have provided good protection.
We know that there were other strains that were circulating as well. At one point, we called it the Brazil variant, there was also what we had previously called the South African variant before the WHO changed the nomenclature — the vaccines still worked against them. And so vaccines can work even when there is a variant.
Now we don’t know how sick this variant will make you. We don’t know what impact it will have on children, including children who may not be vaccinated. And that is exactly why we have to fall back to our first principles again — wearing that mask, keeping a distance, preventing those indoor gatherings, staying home when we’re sick, getting tested as much as possible — those we know work, they work against the other variants, they will work again with this variant very likely.
Q: Why should we take the booster if it does work against this Omicron variant?
A: The reason to get a booster is because the immunity that you have has waned. The vaccines are providing some protection, but not the best protection. And we know that boosters can boost that immune response and give you that better protection.
We will have to wait to see whether this vaccine can provide that optimal protection against the variant. The manufacturers have said, if there’s a new variant that is very different that needs a special vaccine, they will produce a vaccine. But right now we don’t have that data. And we know that there is evidence for waning immunity and that’s why we should get the booster doses. I mean, Delta is still our predominant strain that is spreading in Ontario — and that is the reason if you are recommended to get a booster, to get the booster now.
Q: How much more transmissible is the new Omicron virus?
A: We don’t know how much more transmissible it is. Variants are mutations or changes and we expect to see variants.
We call it a variant of concern, a VOC, if it has those features — it can spread more easily, it can make more people sick — that means that it can actually take over, it can be the new type of COVID virus. That is something that we have to actually wait for the scientists to do their test, to be able to inform us on how much more easily it spreads.
There are a number of criteria that can make it a VOC. For example, this one has a number of mutations on the spike protein. It has taken over in one part of the world where it was detected, so there are a number of other reasons why it has been declared a variant of concern.
But remember we saw other variants of concern in the spring. They never became our predominant variant. We had cases of those variants here, even in our own city, but it did not take off as the main one. So I think that’s also important to note.
Scroll through the questions submitted to this session below.
Note: questions were moderated before appearing in the chat window
