COVID-19 Variants Debate
COVID-19 Variants Debate
Be it resolved, we should be very worried about the variants.
B1617, which has plunged India into a catastrophic third wave of COVID-19 and is spreading globally, is the latest “variant of concern” that has emerged since the pandemic began over a year ago. Many leading infectious disease experts are warning that our failure to contain the spread of the virus, with dozens of high population countries nowhere close to acquiring vaccines, has created the ideal conditions for dangerous new variants to emerge threatening the efficacy of vaccines. They say that only a strategy of maximum global suppression using all the public health tools at our disposal in combination with a massive ramp-up of vaccination rates in every country will prevent COVID-19 from becoming a serious, endemic illness capable of killing millions annually.
Critics of this view say that once again we over-estimating the severity of COVID as well as our ability to control the virus’s spread. They say that the mutations it generates are a normal part of the evolution of all viruses and COVID-19 is no exception: there have already been thousands of new variants over the past year and the majority are not associated with a change in infectiousness or deadliness. Mutations also tend to repeat across variants making it possible for vaccine makers to target the changes that are associated with increased risk of infection and death with booster shots. Herd immunity achieved by vaccination and naturally occurring infections among healthy individuals, will steadily bring COVID-19 to heel making it a manageable disease for humanity.
Con
You may also like

July 3, 2025
– Listen
Munk Dialogue with Andrew Coyne: how do you negotiate with Donald Trump?

July 10, 2025
– Listen
Munk Dialogue with Andrew Coyne: irresponsible tax cuts on both sides of the border

July 15, 2025
– Listen
Munk Dialogue with Andrew Coyne: Canada seeks to diversify its trade partnerships beyond the U.S

July 23, 2025
– Listen
Munk Dialogue with Andrew Coyne: we are living through the golden age of conspiracy theories

July 29, 2025
– Listen
Munk Dialogue with Andrew Coyne: The EU-US trade deal should serve as a warning to Canada and why supply management hurts the poorest Canadians

August 6, 2025
– Listen
Munk Dialogue with Andrew Coyne: America’s checks and balances are failing to restrain Donald Trump

August 19, 2025
– Listen
Munk Dialogue with Andrew Coyne: a phony peace deal for Ukraine could put all of Europe at risk

August 26, 2025
– Listen
Munk Dialogue with Andrew Coyne: the US slides towards dictatorship and Carney clings to Canada’s peacemaking past

September 3, 2025
– Listen
Munk Dialogue with Andrew Coyne: A public display of friendship between China, Russia, and India is a searing indictment of Trump’s foreign policy

September 10, 2025