UK news agencies trot out usual marketing for big pharma – recommending boosters targetting XBB.1.5 variant for the BA.2.86 “Pirola” variant – because “54 cases in 3 months” = “rapidly spreading”

From here:

Covid news LIVE: Mutated Pirol"a strain spreading rapdily across UK | Express.co.uk

We have this:

“The ZOE Health Study reported there are 1,169,195 people currently predicted to have symptomatic Covid in the UK as of this week, as the new and highly mutated variant Pirola spreads across the country.”

The reporting is from “KATRINA TURRILL, Health Editor based in London, specialising in breaking news, common health conditions, real life stories, and diet and exercise”

Ok, ZOE. believe it or not, is one of the most used data gatherers of C19 in the UK. But note the headline “ spreading rapidly” and also this headline:

“Covid news LIVE: Mutated Pirola strain rapidly spreading as thousands prepare for boosters”

Thousands line up for “boosters”? – no narrative around the mice used to test the booster, or that it is monovalent, targeting the almost extinct – in the US – XBB.1.5 variant – or that “Pirola” is not as significant as these top 3 variants - in the US

Note this headline from Yale Medicine yesterday:

The Updated COVID Vaccine Is Here: 10 Things to Know > News > Yale Medicine

“The new shots designed to protect against XBB.1.5 should also protect against more recent virus strains, including EG.5 and BA.2.86.”

“Should”? As in we have no clue, but it might?

Now. Let’s put the ZOE estimate of 1,169,000 modelled cases in context.

“As of September 18, data from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) confirmed 54 cases of the Pirola strain in the UK - 48 cases in England and six in Scotland. As of yet, no cases have been identified in Wales or Northern Ireland.

In England, 10 of the cases were hospitalised, but there have been no recorded deaths. Of the 48 cases in England, 30 were identified as part of a single outbreak in a Norfolk care home.

In a statement, a spokesperson for the UKHSA said: “BA.2.86 continues to transmit within the UK, with sporadic cases identified in most regions.”

A total of 54 cases in only England and Scotland after it was first detected 3 months ago in nearby Denmark. Yen were of those in a single nursing home. Np detail of whether the nursing home cases were hospitalized with or because of Pirola. No clue as to how the hell that particular nursing home became infected OR whether the sufferers had been injected once, twice, three or more times if at all.

Well, those thousands lining up for these new “soon to be proven to fail” boosters will get the opportunity to attend funerals of one in 800 dropping dead – or rather cremations as the graveyard gets just one tenth the advertising in the UK of the incinerators these days.

The hype of the reporting looks like it was written by big pharma – and probably was. Ad bucks spent by nig pharma on the newspaper needs to be checked out!

Onwards!

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