There have been concerns that lunar new year may cause the current wave of COVID infections in China to spread much further and faster. But the worst has likely passed.
Clinically vulnerable people tended not to respond as well after the first and second shots, but their immunity rises to greater levels with a booster.
The repeated lesson from other countries is that the loss of immunity and the appearance of new variants make herd immunity a futile goal when it comes to COVID.
Deep-seated structural issues in the NHS affect all patients, however they particularly impact people with long COVID who are trying to both understand a complex new illness and access healthcare.
A new study has looked at more than 15,000 people across 21 countries to assess whether vaccinated and unvaccinated people discriminate against each other.
Reports from China indicate BF.7 is quicker to transmit and has greater capacity to escape prior immunity than other omicron subvariants. But we shouldn’t be alarmed at this stage.
There seems to be increased complacency around continued COVID infections, and even an attitude that they don’t matter. But they do – and we can reduce the risk.