New Covid variant of concern from S Africa

gar , just keep everything crossed that it won’t happen and I’m just catastrophising. 🤞🏼 However there is a reason why I’m known as Lucky Lesley!   

While I agree with him that it's not the time to " freak out" as yet but it is prudent to take precautions sooner rather than later. Like all scientists out there at the present time, he doesn't have all the data. South Africa has one of the most up to date and a very robust Genome Sequencing programme. In fact they along with the UK were the first countries to implement nationwide genomic surveillance efforts for SARS-CoV-2 as early as April 2020. 
Like all Genome Sequences full data takes time to collect. It is laboratory led as the test take time to get to their conclusion. The  Network for Genomics Surveillance in South Africa has acted very quickly to what they have found so far. There has to have been something in that linage of the virus that made them act and inform others so quickly. It seems that it was in the spike protein make up that is very different to what they have seen before. Genome sequencing is very complex with a multitude of different things to trace.
To play down the findings without the full date is equally as damaging as to over react without the full date. 

It seems the best we can do at the moment is for people to get vaccinated and for the ones that have been fully vaccinated, to get their boosters and take the necessary precautions to lower the risk of catching it. That booster is crucial. Its what makes our immune system wake up to whatever it is faced with. Whether it will still protect us no one knows at the moment as the data isn't known but it will give us a better chance because our immune system is as strong as it can be. This is what will give us the best line of defence until the scientists know more about this latest variant.

Yes, because that is the only line of defence we have at the moment but they still don't know for certain that the vaccines will protect us. But comparing it to the Alpha and Delta where they know that the Omicron, by its linage, is very different from what they know thus far is playing down the severity of what could happen. A far more effective message would be to get people to have their vaccinations and or booster is to point out that this could potentially be quite severe.
People are very selective in what they read IMO and will go with " Oh well it's just another variant just like the Delta" but in reality it is not from what they know of the data to date. The Beta variant was at the top of people's concerns at the beginning of the year because it was the best at escaping the immune system. But in the end it was the faster spreading but far less escaping Delta that took over the world. The Omicron, potentially, has both to high degrees.
It is also incredibly heavily mutated. Prof Tulio de Oliveira, the director of the Centre for Epidemic Response and Innovation in South Africa, said there was an "unusual constellation of mutations" and that it was "very different" to other variants that have circulated.

 Dismissing travel bans because in his opinion they don't work by comparing them to the travel bans which occurred at the very beginning of the pandemic, which we can all agree, came too late, helped by the lack of any data from Chine  is also playing down the potential of having some control of the virus. At least countries have acted a little quicker this time and as they say " every little helps"

No, the sky isn't falling down but being forewarned of a potential risk is a good thing IMO

As of 3 hours ago, Morocco has halted ALL incoming flights from all countries. No word yet on if they are shutting borders completely (halting ferries coming into ports).

Exactly - 5 cases in Canada to date, and many other countries as well. The horse has already left the barn.

I’m not sure how to feel about this. I’m scared and tired, honestly. But I also feel like if it is really bad and evades current vaccines it’s poetic justice of a sort. We richer, mostly western, countries decided to be next level selfish and take up to 3 doses without giving sufficient access to even one dose for poorer countries, despite the WHO’s explicit warnings. We f’ed Africa, and we might be about to get f’ed right back.

We didn’t f’ anyone, link.  According to the White House fact sheet as of August 3rd we had already sent over 100 million doses to other countries. 

That's really scary.  I hope you get over this soon and return to back to normal. 

Not necessarily hesitancy. Depends on the country.

I was in Kenya over the summer.  75% unemployment.  Folks in the area I was in had food to eat because of subsistence farming, but that was about all they had.

We were about 80 miles outside of Nairobi, yet the drive takes anywhere from 4-5 hours.  And that was on PAVED roads.  Very little transportation options.  And the area we were in was not one of the most poor and remote parts of Kenya.  Also, Nairobi has one of the world's largest slum areas (not being critical, just what it's called), with estimates upward of 500,000 people.  The logistics of vaccination in that type situation are near impossible.  

When I was there, no vaccine was available yet.  Our friend from there came to the states in September and got his J&J here. 

Hesitant or not, if you cannot get to the shots, it does not matter what the supply is.  And the Kenyan government cares very little about the population at large.  

Not the only reason. One also has to take into consideration the health infrastructure of these countries too. A country can have all the vaccines they need but it's not much of a help if they can't administer them or put in place locations that are accessible for their citizens.

Saying that doesn't mean I don't think that the richer countries should share no blame but there is a much bigger picture of why some of these countries are so far behind with their vaccinations.

No, Africa did not ask J&J and Pfizer to stop sending doses. South Africa asked them to delay sending doses. South Africa is a country. Africa is a continent and covers about 20% of the land area of the earth.

While there is some vaccine hesitancy, demand has consistently outstripped supply. From the beginning of July to late October, South Africa was administering more vaccine doses per capita than the US. (The US rate climbed in late Oct as the vaccine was made available to 5-11 year olds and booster doses were rolled out.) South Africa's vaccine coverage may seem low by western standards, but it is the 5th highest in Africa. Aside from logistical issues which others have touched on, one of the main reasons for slow uptake recently was the lack of urgency from citizens because SA had very low case numbers. Two to three weeks ago they had a 7 day rolling average of less than 300 cases per day, and around 30 deaths per day in a population of around 60 million. That would be around 1700 cases and 170 deaths in a population the size of the US.

A social factor is also at play. Many people in South Africa move to the big cities for work and only see their families at Easter and Christmas when most people go back to their ancestral homes and villages, often in a different province. Therefore a lot of industries shut down completely for 3 or 4 weeks from about mid-December. These industries as well as those that rely on Christmas trade do not allow employees to take leave in the run-up to Christmas, and many will schedule extra overtime to make up for lost production time. Employees are also keen to work that overtime because it means more money for Christmas, and to pay for school fees, uniforms and stationery for the new school year which starts in January. The upshot of all of this is that employees do not have time to go and get the vaccine. South Africa has also had restrictions on inter-provincial travel a number of times during the pandemic, so a lot of people haven't seen their families for over a year. The SA govt did not want to waste vaccines by having them delivered when most people probably would not want to spend a day getting vaccinated when they could be spending time with their families.