COVID US-Japan COVID R.1 Variant: What To Know

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The discussion highlights concerns about the increasing diversity of COVID-19 variants, specifically focusing on the R.1 variant and its implications for vaccine efficacy. While R.1 has mutations in the spike protein, it is not classified as a variant of concern due to its low prevalence compared to more dominant variants like alpha and delta. Current vaccines, including those from J&J, Sputnik V, Pfizer, and Moderna, have shown effectiveness against R.1. The conversation emphasizes the need for specialized software to analyze the complex data surrounding COVID mutations. Overall, the emergence of variants continues to pose challenges, but R.1 has not significantly impacted vaccination efforts thus far.
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Forbes BTW seems to actively support COVID vaccine use and efficacy. Your article tries to explain the important spike amino acid changes in the spike protein since December 2019. Mutations if you like, and the degree to which they get past vaccinations.

The whole idea is that someday one of the beasties will truly evade the current vaccine team: J&J, Sputnik V, Pfizer, Moderna, etc. COVID diversity is increasing:

This tangled mess shows what is meant by diversity - the family tree. It takes special software to make sense of the data behind the graphic. Nextstrain has links to some of that.

https://nextstrain.org/ncov/open/globalR.1 from the CDC:
https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/wr/mm7017e2.htm

The MMRW article is primarily about a new variant R.1 in the context of vaccination efficacy for new COVID viruses.

R.1 not classified as a VOC - variant of concern. Why? The highest level of occurrence is really low, compared to alpha or delta. Vaccines meant for other COVID flavors worked well against R.1

Given the fact that it emerged at about the time the delta variant became a dominant VOC, R.1 - so far - has not taken off in any of the susceptible populations.
 
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