We're allowing hundreds of thousands to pour over the Southern Border from South America, where the Lambda variant is dominant. Keep that in mind when you read the rest of this.

The title of this new paper speaks for itself: "SARS-CoV-2 Lambda variant exhibits higher infectivity and immune resistance"

Notable here, is the case of Chile, where the vaccination rate is relatively high. The percentage who received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine was ~60% on June 1, 2021."

However, the new study focuses on vaccination, not natural immunity, and how the Lambda variant is so "proficient in escaping from the antiviral immunity elicited by vaccination."

The same is also true of the Delta variant.

Researchers prepared the viruses pseudotyped with the S proteins of the Lambda variant as well as four variants of concerns (VOCs), Alpha (B.1.1.7), Beta (B.1.351), Gamma (P.1) and Delta (B.1.617.2). The infectivities of the Alpha and Beta variants were significantly lower, as were the infectivities of Gamma.

However, Delta and Lambda variants were significantly higher, as was Epsilon (though that variant is believed to be stamped out). What they found suggests the more infectious the variant, the more resistance it is to vaccine immunity.

IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND: Research from Piccoli in 2020 found the receptor binding domain (RBD) of the SARS-CoV-2 S protein is immunodominant, and mutations in this domain can lead to immune evasion. Research from McCallum in 2021 found the mutations in the N-terminal domain (NTD) of the SARS-CoV-2 S protein are associated with the escape neutralization.

These results suggest that the Lambda S is highly infectious and resistant to the vaccine-induced humoral immunity, and the robust resistance of the Lambda S to the vaccine-induced neutralization is determined by a large deletion in the NTD.

What about that large deletion referenced?

Virology experiments found that a large 7-amino-acid deletion, the RSYLTPGD246-253N mutation, does not affect viral infectivity. However, it is responsible for the resistance to the vaccine-induced neutralization as well as an NTD-targeting NAb.

Bottom line: This, and all the other research suggests that Alpha is the key to surviving a longterm pandemic like this. You must be exposed to, and survive, Alpha. Exposure to the parental strain provides significantly higher immunity, significantly less symptomatic response, and fewer rates of hospitalizations. I'd like to see similar studies comparing immunity with Lambda like we've seen previously from Delta and others.

"These observations suggest that acquiring at least two virological features, increased viral infectivity and evasion from antiviral (vaccine) immunity, is pivotal to the efficient spread and transmission in the human population."

We're being outsmarted by a virus, folks. I imagine that's because it doesn't consult it's ideology before it decides how to react. We're going to discuss this more in a live stream today, shortly.