At least, they talk about "variants", and that is the correct term. Most "journalists" use the incorrect terms "strain" and "mutation".
SARS-CoV-2 has an extremely specialized spike protein, it cannot change much without becoming useless. The immune system creates maybe 200 different antibodies against the spike protein, and all these variants can evade only 10 or 20 of them. That's why we don't see the millions of reinfections we would see with a seasonal virus.
At least, they talk about "variants", and that is the correct term. Most "journalists" use the incorrect terms "strain" and "mutation".
SARS-CoV-2 has an extremely specialized spike protein, it cannot change much without becoming useless. The immune system creates maybe 200 different antibodies against the spike protein, and all these variants can evade only 10 or 20 of them. That's why we don't see the millions of reinfections we would see with a seasonal virus.
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