These Endless Coronavirus Mutations

Shortly after the global campaign to control infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus using mRNA COVID-19 shots began in the United States on Dec. 14, 2020, one of the concerns expressed by some scientists and doctors was that mass use of the bioengineered products might cause the virus to mutate  and lead to variants and subvariants, which could prolong the COVID-19 pandemic.^{1 2 3}

At that time, only five variants or “mutations” of SARS-CoV-2 had been identified around the world, including Alpha (also known as B.1.1.7), Beta (B.1.351), Delta (B.1.617.2), Gamma (B.1.1.28.1 or P.1) and Lambda (C.37). Alpha was the first of the SARS-CoV-2 mutations that received widespread public attention. It was first identified in the United Kingdom in September 2020. Beta was identified shortly thereafter in South Africa, also in September 2020, followed by Delta in India in October 2020. Gamma was first reported in December 2020 and was believed to have originated in Brazil. Lambda was also identified in December in Peru.^{4 5 6 7 8 9}

The Rise of Alpha and Delta Mutations

Early on in the U.S., two of these mutations—Alpha and Delta—spread widely and quickly, and both of these coincided with the first year of mass use of COVID shots. By April 2021—four months after the first mRNA COVID shots were released under an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) in the U.S.—Alpha had become the most common mutation, making up 66 percent of the SARS-CoV-2 infections in the country. By April, approximately 64 percent of adults in the U.S. had received at least one dose of a COVID shot.^{4 10 11 12}

On June 18, 2021, the White House proudly announced:

Today, thanks to the President’s COVID-19 strategy, the virus is in retreat. 300 million shots have been administered in 150 days.

When President Biden took office, about 5% of adult Americans had gotten vaccinated. At the pace the U.S. was vaccinating in January, it would have taken 336 days to get to 300 million shots in arms.

Thanks to the Biden Administration’s whole-of-government effort to stand up a first-of-its-kind, best-in-class nationwide vaccination program, today, more than 175 million Americans have gotten at least one COVID-19 vaccine shot.¹³

Ironically, that same month, Alpha was superseded in the U.S. by the more infectious Delta mutation, estimated to be 80-90 percent more transmissible than Alpha, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) declared Delta a “variant of concern.” By the end of June 2021, Delta, the first SARS-CoV-2 “double mutant” (B.1.617 and then B.1.617.2), accounted for 25 percent of the new SARS-CoV-2 infections in the U.S., 83 percent by July and 99 percent by September of that year.^{10 14 15 16 17}

On Sept. 9, 2021, President Biden announced a plan to mandate COVID shots for about 100 million Americans, who had either neglected to get the shots or had refused for any number of reasons, including concerns about their safety. “Our patience is wearing thin,” President Biden famously stated. With that, yet another new push by the government to vaccinate as many Americans as possible against COVID was on.¹⁸

Omicron: The Mother of Subvariants

By December 2021, another SARS-CoV-2 mutation designated Omicron (B.1.1.529) began spreading like wildfire in the U.S. Omicron, believed to have originated in Botswana and South Africa in November 2021, was reportedly four times more contagious than Delta. “It’s unlike anything we’ve ever seen, even at the peak of the prior surges of COVID,” said James Phillips, MD, chief of disaster medicine at George Washington University Hospital in Washington, DC. By the start of January 2022, Omicron was responsible for about 95 percent of new SARS-CoV-2 infections in the U.S. ^{19 20 21}

Despite consistent denials by many medical and public health professionals that COVID shots had nothing to do with causing SARS-CoV-2 mutations, it sure seemed as if the more people were persuaded to get more COVID shot, the more SARS-CoV-2 mutations that made the virus more contagious kept popping up. It brought to mind a 2011 quote from Barbara Loe Fisher of the National Vaccine Information Center…

Every life form wants to live, wants to survive. Universal principle. And viruses and bacteria are no exception. And when you put pressure on a virus or bacteria that’s circulating with the use of a vaccine that contains a lab-altered form of that virus or bacteria, it doesn’t seem illogical to understand that that organism is going to fight to survive, it’s going to find a way to adapt in order to survive.²²

In 2022, the SARS-CoV-2 mutations changed. Instead of new variants of the original virus surfacing every six months or so, the Omicron variant began mutating more frequently into subvariants such as BA.1, BA.2, BA.3, BA.4 and BA.5, and then into subvariants from those subvariants.²³

By the spring of 2022, for example, the most prevalent SARS-CoV-2 mutation in the U.S. was Omicron subvariant BA.2. In April of that year, BA.2 caused nearly two-thirds of new SARS-CoV-2 infections. Later that summer, BA.2 was surpassed by Omicron subvariant BA.2.12.1 and subsequently by Omicron subvariants BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 (mutations from the BA.5).^{24 25 26}

XBB Has Dominated 2023

By the end of 2022, the CDC was tracking a new Omicron subvariant mutation designated XBB (a recombinant of BA.2.10.1 and BA.2.75), believed to have more mutation spikes than any other SARS-CoV-2 variants up to that point. This coincided with another push—a “six-week sprint”—by the Biden administration to encourage Americans to get the newly updated COVID bivalent booster shots. It came at a time when already nearly 70 percent of the U.S. population was considered to be fully vaccinated for COVID.^{27 28 29 30}

By the first week of January 2023, XBB.1.5 or “Kraken” accounted for one-quarter of new SARS-CoV-2 infections in the U.S. By the end of January, 40 percent of new infections were caused by XBB.1.5. By April 2023, XBB.1.6 or “Arcturus” was spreading and accounted for 11 percent of new infections in the country. By June, 95 percent of all SARS-CoV-2 infections in the U.S. were caused by Omicron XBB mutations.^{31 32 33 34}

By the start of this month. an XBB mutation designated EG.5 or “Eris” accounted for 22 percent of SARS-CoV-2 infections in the U.S. But wait… that’s still not the end of the story. The latest mutation is called “Pirola,” which is a descendant of the Omicron BA.2.86 subvariant. With 36 more mutation spikes than XBB, Pirola is set to have one doozy of a run.³⁴

It is unclear why there continue to be so many mutations of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. It is also unclear whether there is any end to them. What has been infinitely clear for a long while now is that all the COVID shots that have been devised (at such great cost to the U.S. taxpayer) to prevent infections by these mutations are utterly useless and continue to be tragically misrepresented to the public.

If you would like to receive an e-mail notice of the most recent articles published in The Vaccine Reaction each week, click here.