On August 12 WMOK spoke with Dr. Jonathan Walters of Massac Memorial Hospital regarding Covid-19.
Dr. Walters told WMOK that throughout the pandemic various variants have been tracked at various locations on the planet. He explains that it’s the same virus, but in the same way that our children do not look exactly like us the next generation of virus that is being made on the community level does not always appear exactly as the original strain.
Dr. Walters said that as those variants appear on the scene – one that has been stronger and easier to spread will then become the dominant strain and right now that is the Delta variant.
Dr. Walters said that the current science shows that the Modern and Phizer vaccine still protect against the Delta variant. He said that it’s possible that over time the Covid-19 vaccines may be modified and adjusted for different strains as is the current process with Flu vaccinations.
Regarding if this will be an every year thing Dr. Walters told WMOK, “I can not say because we’re currently living a science experiment.”
Dr. Walters told WMOK that the large labs and academic centers are testing for the genetic materials that identify what the variants are. He said most of the individual locations such as hospitals and clinics are not checking for what the strain is.
Dr. Walters said the trends across the country at the testing centers show that more and more Delta variant is being seen. He said that to the average person – whether they have the alpha, beta, gamma, delta or the new lamda strain that is now being tracked it won’t make much a difference – aside from the fact that the medical community is finding the Delta is more harsh in those who are not vaccinated than they would have expected from previous variants.
Dr. Walters advised that patients are getting sicker with the Delta variant – and that includes young patients as well as patients who really don’t have very many medical problems.
Hear our full segment on the Delta Variant with Dr. Walters below:
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