Global Vaccine Inequality Threatens to Unleash the Next COVID-19 Variant

On a warm South African day in mid-November 2021, Dr. Angelique Coetzee examined a 29-year-old man complaining of extreme fatigue and severe headaches. The symptoms seemed more consistent with heat stroke than the sore throat and fever she had noticed in her COVID-19 patients. By day's end, after seeing several similar cases test positive for COVID-19, Dr. Coetzee, chair of the South African Medical Association, became convinced that something was amiss. Within a week, investigators determined that her patients were infected with a new variant possessing multiple mutations (McKeever 2021), B.1.1.529 BA.1, or Omicron.
Source: International Journal of Infectious Diseases - Category: Infectious Diseases Authors: Tags: Perspective Source Type: research