Sunday, March 28 2021
COVID-19 Variants Explained
What on Earth Are These Variants Everyone Is Talking About?
Cell mutations happen constantly in the DNA of practically every living organism. And by far, the vast majority of these mutations have no noticeable effect. Either the mutation occurs in a part of the genome that doesn’t really matter to the whole organism, or it kills the cell, which is then eliminated by our immune system.
Similarly, viruses undergo constant mutations and, occasionally, those mutations end up being an advantage in its efforts to reproduce, spread to other hosts, and survive. If the advantage replicates to where enough people have it, the new version of the virus is called a “variant.” Genetically, and in many other ways, the variant is very similar compared to the original virus, except may be more contagious, cause a more severe reaction, or both.
There are currently three main variants of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19:
While research is ongoing, studies suggest that antibodies created as a result of vaccination with the current vaccines are effective in fighting all of these variants.
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