International COVID-19 Megathread

[TheDeadFlagBlues]

It seems that the Indian variant (B1617) is either far more transmissible than B117, much better able to evade immune protection from natural/"wild" infection or both. However, there's suggestive evidence that the Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines are still extremely effective against it.

This is both frightening and reassuring. It's frightening because anyone with a moral compass will rightly be concerned about the fate of countries that have no hope of achieving widespread immunity from vaccination over the next year. It's reassuring because, again and again, these variants are unable to significantly evade protection from the better vaccines. We can easily end this pandemic through mass vaccination.