A WHO’s Who of VOCs, VOIs and VUMs: Alphabet Stew and Numeric Ragout for Dummies
C19.Life • 1 November 2025
“We’re going to need a bigger Greek alphabet.”
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‘Omicron’ variants during the ‘Omicron Era’ (late 2021–): BA.1, BA.2, BA.4, BA.5, BA.2.12.1, BA.2.75, BQ.1, XBB, XBB.1.5, XBB.1.16, CH.1.1, XBB.1.9, XBB.2.3, EG.5.1, XBB.1.5.70, HK.3, BA.2.86, JN.1, JN.1.11.1, KP.3, XDV.1, KP.3.1.1, XEC, KP.2.3, LF.7, MV.1, LP.8.1, NB.1.8.1, and ‘Omicron’ XFG as of September 2025.
© 2025 NextStrain.org ~ GISAID.org / Annotations by C19.Life.
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A tale of Greek letters, variant stews, the WHO, and you
From May 2021 onwards, the World Health Organization (WHO) began to assign ‘simple, easy-to-say-and-remember’ labels for key SARS-CoV-2 Variants Of Concern (VOCs) and Variants Of Interest (VOIs), using letters of the Greek alphabet.
In March 2023, the WHO abandoned this idea, announcing that Greek letters would only be assigned to major VOCs – while the lesser VOIs would be referred to using their scientific names (e.g. XBB.1.5/23A) – despite these names being ‘difficult to say and recall... and prone to misreporting’ (WHO ~ 31 May 2021).
In March of 2023, the WHO also changed their working definitions for a Variant of Concern (VOC) and a Variant of Interest (VOI), and added a brand new nebulous term into the mix – the ‘Variant Under Monitoring’ (VUM) – effectively ensuring that Omicron, now firmly cemented into the public’s consciousness as ‘mild’ and only a minor threat to human life, would remain synonymous with Covid infections for the foreseeable future.
No matter that Omicron had already made a quantum leap into unprecedented transmissibility by largely evading previous vaccines and dodging the protection of prior infections. The WHO’s new pot pourri of variant definitions also effectively buried any onward public panic over an aggressively neuroinvasive, immune- and cardiovascular-system-crashing Pi and Rho while not crashing the needles of the NASDAQ.
Confused? Good. All is explained by the WHO in this clear-as-mud, off-the-beaten-trail PDF download.
Compliant? Good.
Bored to the point of learned helplessness yet, dear reader?
Good.
The only thing you need not know is that the people dying around you of mildness while simultaneously living their best lives are, in fact, just getting repeatedly infected and beaten about the head by multiple strains of a neurotropic, highly vasculopathic SARS-CoV-2 variant formerly known as B.1.1.529, now publicly celebrated as Eternal Omicron Mild [™].
It’s not that hard to understand.
The WHO knew that they were going to run out of Greek letters by the end of 2022. The virus wasn’t just mutating at lightning speed, having out-stripped attempts at blocking it with a durable preventive vaccine. It had changed its game-plan, leaving the initial, dramatic ARDS far behind in the rear-view mirror of overflowing-hospital car-park headlines and desperate headcounts, and re-aimed itself fully at the nervous system, the immune system and the heart* – three of its primary objectives from the start.
* More specifically, ‘vasculature’ = the network of blood vessels in the body, or in a specific organ.
So in reply, the WHO didn’t just change the rules of their Letters game by making the new variant goalposts too small for any future VOC football to fit into: they changed the name of their game, too, and called slow death ‘Mild’.
Less a child picking up their ball and walking off the pitch; more a First Division manager (and his sponsors) folding up their astroturf, goalposts and all, and unrolling it in some Godforsaken desert in Central Asia where no-one will witness the final score of the game.
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‘Estimated cumulative excess deaths during COVID-19, World.’
From 1 Jan 2020 to 10 June 2024:
❂ Lower bound, excess deaths: 19.24 million people.
❂ Central estimate, excess deaths: 27.27 million people.
❂ Upper bound, excess deaths: 36.29 million people.
Since 17 June 2024: Zero (0) excess deaths.
❂ Confirmed COVID-19 deaths: 7.05 million people.
Data source: The Economist (2024); World Health Organization (2025).
Accessed: 25 September 2025.
© 2025 OurWorldInData.org ➤ / Annotations by C19.Life.
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❦ The Numbers Game, a year on (4 Nov 2025).
PE.1.4 is now a descendant of KP.3.1.1.
To be clear:
PE.1.4 = MC.10.2.1.1.4 = KP.3.1.1.10.2.1.1.4 = Omicron B.1.1.529.2.86.1.1.11.1.3.1.1.10.2.1.1.4.
➲ From ‘Genomic Mapping of SARS-CoV-2 / COVID-19 Variants’ by NextStrain.org / GISAID.org / C19.Life.
❦ Chart data accessed: 29 October 2024.
© 2024 NextStrain.org / GISAID.org / Annotations by C19.Life.
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More... On naming conventions, the WHO, and SARS-CoV-2
❦ “I am realizing more and more how unusual, unscientific, unmedical, and counterproductive it is for the World Health Organization (WHO) to select the name COVID-19 and reject SARS2. In fact it would be most consistent with medical practice to just call it SARS. Here’s why. In 1981, cases of immunodeficiency emerged in San Francisco; in 1982 , the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC ) named this disease acquired immunodeficiency syndrome ( AIDS ). No agent was known at the time... Compare : in 2002 , cases of atypical non-bacterial pneumonia appeared in Guandong; in 2003 the CDC named this severe acute respiratory syndrome ( SARS ). No agent was known at the time... In 1983 , the virus that causes AIDS was discovered by Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Luc Montaignier. It was eventually named HIV in 1986 by the International Committee on the Taxonomy of Viruses ( ICTV ). Compare : in 2003 , the virus that causes SARS was isolated in Hong Kong, sequenced by the CDC and a Canadian consortium. It was named SARSCoV in 2004 by the ICTV. ➲ Taxon Details for Severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus ➤ In 1986 , a milder acquired immunodeficiency syndrome was discovered in West Africa, and the virus was quickly isolated by the Montaignier group. It had 50% sequence identity to HIV . The virus was named HIV-2 . The disease name ? Unchanged: AIDS . Compare : In 2019 , a severe acute respiratory distress syndrome was discovered in Wuhan and the virus was quickly isolated by Wuhan scientists. It had 79% sequence identity to SARSCoV . The virus was named SARSCoV-2 by the ICTV. The disease name ? Well, that’s when the WHO stepped in. To review: HIV-1 and HIV-2 are 50% identical , and both cause immunodeficiency . They result in different disease severities (you’re less likely to die from HIV-2) – but the diseases they cause are (or the disease they cause is) considered the same : AIDS . SARSCoV-1 and SARSCoV-2 are 79% identical , and both cause severe acute respiratory distress . They result in different disease severities (you’re less likely to die from SARSCoV-2), so by analogy to HIV-1/2→AIDS , the diseases they cause should be considered the same : SARS . However, the WHO stepped in (why does the CDC have to defer to them anyway?) and decided that the one requirement for the name was that it not mention SARS . Thus the terrible name COVID-19 was chosen. It stands for coronavirus disease , and thus has no useful medical information . It is an open suspicion that this was done to deflect criticism for a slow response to what is basically a second SARS epidemic . Because we already knew how to stop [the airborne] SARSCoV – and knew that it was bad – there was no excuse for not quickly addressing what is basically a strain of SARSCoV . The purposeful hiding of the identity of the COVID-19 virus – that it is a strain of SARS virus – has had severe negative consequences to world health . By not realizing that we are dealing with SARS, many political leaders have failed to address the epidemic forcefully enough. Also, the term COVID-19 hinders clinical education and communication . Let’s compare to AIDS again. Calling the disease(s) caused by HIV-1 and HIV-2 as AIDS in both cases has clinical utility . The signs and symptoms are similar enough that it helps to consider HIV-1/2 together . Considering HIV-1/2 together also reminds us that treatments and preventive steps we learn from one can be used on the other . Likewise, COVID-19 should have been called SARS , SARS2 , or – as a compromise – variably severe acute respiratory syndrome , vSARS . Li Wenliang , who warned about the new outbreak in Wuhan, had it exactly right : “Seven confirmed cases of SARS were reported... The latest news is, it has been confirmed that they are coronavirus infections , but the exact virus strain is being subtyped.” Disease names have always been guided by a desire to inform . The WHO has taken the opposite approach , to misinform . Not surprisingly, confusion has resulted. With millions dying , we are now seeing the tragic consequences of WHO’s placement of politics over medicine and science . Since some people seem to have already forgotten their history (or maybe were living under a rock when the WHO naming decision happened), here’s the quote from the WHO itself...” ✾ ❦ From Science , 12 Feb 2020 : “COVID-19. I’ll spell it: C-O-V-I-D hyphen one nine. COVID-19.” ‘That’s how Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, head of the World Health Organization (WHO), introduced the agency’s official name for the new disease that’s paralyzing China and threatening the rest of the world. The Coronavirus Study Group (CSG) of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses, the paper noted, had decided that the virus is a variant of the coronavirus that caused an outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2002–03. So, it named the new pathogen severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus 2 , or SARS-CoV-2 . But that’s not a name WHO is happy with , and the agency isn’t planning on adopting it. “From a risk communications perspective , using the name SARS can have unintended consequences in terms of creating unnecessary fear for some populations, especially in Asia which was worst affected by the SARS outbreak in 2003,” a WHO spokesperson wrote in an email to Science . “ For that reason and others , in public communications WHO will refer to ‘the virus responsible for COVID-19’ or ‘the COVID-19 virus , ’ but neither of these designations is intended as replacements for the official name of the virus” that the study group has picked. Misunderstandings about the virus and disease names began almost immediately ...’ 📖 (12 Feb 2020 ~ Science) Update: ‘A bit chaotic.’ Christening of new coronavirus and its disease name create confusion ➤ ✾ ❦ From the WHO Director-General’s mouth on 11 Feb 2020 : — “First of all, we now have a name for the disease: COVID-19. I’ll spell it: C-O-V-I-D hyphen one nine – COVID-19. Under agreed guidelines between WHO, the World Organisation for Animal Health and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, we had to find a name that did not refer to a geographical location, an animal, an individual or group of people, and which is also pronounceable and related to the disease .” [Ed: So ‘ SARS ’ would’ve worked, then.] “Having a name matters to prevent the use of other names that can be inaccurate or stigmatizing. It also gives us a standard format to use for any future coronavirus outbreaks ...” 📖 (11 Feb 2020 ~ World Health Organization) WHO Director-General’s remarks at the media briefing on 2019-nCoV on 11 February 2020 ➤ ❂ © 2020 by Dr. Michael Lin, MD PhD ➲
More... Hype and Mirrors
❦ “The reason why most people aren’t taking Covid-19 seriously is because they simply can’t imagine that their public health body would abandon protections and let an incredibly disabling and airborne virus spread wildly. They will be very angry when it becomes clear to them that that’s exactly what has happened.” ❂ © 2023 Dr. David Keegan ➲
❦ “If you’re puzzled as to why governments and public health departments almost never mention the remotest possibility of SARS-CoV-2-induced immune dysregulation, it’s because to do so would be to admit the greatest mistake made in the history of modern health policy.”
❦ ‘The emergence of [new SARS-CoV-2 Variant of Interest] BA.2.86 meant a decision was made to bring forward the autumn Covid booster to better protect the most vulnerable this winter. But the new jabs are only available to people over 65 years old – it was the over-50s last year – and those with certain health conditions. That is a tactical decision , says Dr. Adam Finn, Professor of Paediatrics at the University of Bristol. He explained: “When younger people who’ve already had infections and vaccines get Covid [again], they get a cold and a cough and might be off work for a few days. There’s no real value in investing a lot of time and effort immunising them again when there are so many other things for the Health Service to be doing.” [ ❦ Note : Can a 62-year-old be defined as a ‘ younger person ’? Yes, at a pinch, if Mr. Finn compares them to a 78-year-old. What age-group do these ‘ younger people ’ belong to who don’t need vaccinating, and who instead need to be continually reinfected with a highly pathogenic Biohazard-Level 3 virus? Could it be a 32-year-old man or woman hoping to have a baby ? Or the 0 to 19-year-olds , who are the academic professor’s strong suit? ] ‘The reality is then that most under-65s will now end up boosting their immunity not through vaccination , but through catching Covid many times . In general, Prof Finn says each new infection should feel milder with the length of time you are sick reduced [sic] . “Each time you catch it, your immunity gets stronger and broader ,” he adds. ’ ❂ [ Note : This is simply not true, and is staggeringly dangerous. ] ❂ 📖 (24 Sep 2023 ~ Jim Reed, Health Reporter / BBC online) What you need to know about Covid as new variant [BA.2.86] rises ➤ © 2023 BBC .
❦ “Respirators and masks have been removed from healthcare. Now schools are encouraging parents to send their sick children to class. We didn’t get here by accident. We have been brought here through carefully orchestrated system changes. They have been common in many countries. Few have noticed. ➲ Step One : Re-label everything to do with the pandemic – a global emergency that has so far killed an estimated 24.4 million people, and resulted in over 400 million post-Covid-19 syndrome cases – so it all appears benign. This language will soon enter media and common conversation. Use it: use it often. ❦ Brain damage = “ Brain fog ” . ❦ Cardiac damage = “ Fatigue ” . ❦ Long Covid (vascular disease affecting every organ system) = “ Anxiety ” . ❦ A leading cause of death worldwide = “ Mild ” . ❦ Hospital admissions = “ Probably in with something else ” . ➲ Step Two : Stop government press conferences, and begin to refer to the on-going pandemic in the past tense. This begins to create the illusion that it has passed, and begins to drip down into common conversation. Never speak about Long Covid or post-Covid complications. Don’t mention deaths. ➲ Step Three : Stop surveillance systems in your country so that there is no way to know how prevalent infection is. Continue to use phrases like “during the pandemic”. There isn’t any accessible data to prove that wrong now. ➲ Step Four : Get media to stop reporting on Covid. They have already followed your government’s cue to refer to anything Covid-related in the past tense to further the public perception that it’s over. In fact, remove the Covid section entirely from the BBC news page. Yes, that really happened. ➲ Step Five : Remove availability of free lateral flow testing for the public. Now you can’t check if you have it. Like to know if there are other cases in your area? Too bad: the surveillance system was shut down last month. Oh well; too bad. Get back to work. ➲ Step Six : We’ve let you believe that a leading cause of mortality and morbidity is “mild”; we’ve stopped monitoring, and removed availability of free testing. The public has decided that it must be 2019 again, and are ignoring risk. Now is a good time to turn to stripping back healthcare mitigations. ➲ Step Seven : Now that no-one’s looking, let’s remove NHS sick leave for Covid, and force staff into disciplinary action if they exceed normal sick leave. Let’s tell them that it’s time to “live with Covid”. They’ll probably think we will upgrade ventilation or adopt new approaches. ➲ Step Eight : Except we won’t. We will just revert to “pre-pandemic” policy, remove universal masking, stop routine staff-testing (asymptomatic transmission? What’s that?), restrict Covid testing – even in symptomatic patients – and reduce time off from work with Covid, despite all the science. Less than a quarter of COVID-19 cases shed infectious virus before symptom onset; under a crude five-day self-isolation period from symptom-onset, two-thirds of cases released into the community would still be infectious... 📖 (18 Aug 2022 ~ The Lancet: Respiratory Medicine) Onset and window of SARS-CoV-2 infectiousness and temporal correlation with symptom onset: a prospective, longitudinal, community cohort study ➤ ❦ 66% were still infectious 5 days after their symptoms began. ❦ 25% were still infectious after 7 days. ❦ You aren’t necessarily OK to be out spreading it about on Day 5 as you’ve been told… ❦ Take some responsibility for not disabling or killing others. ➲ Step Nine : Now that we’ve fixed Covid in hospitals, it’s time to begin restricting vaccine delivery. Unlike other countries, we will only give acute community Covid treatments or vaccines to a select group of the population. No-one will care: they think it’s all over. We told them. ➲ Step Ten : Let’s have a think about banning masks entirely now. I think the public are sufficiently conditioned to go for that. Yeah, they clapped for those healthcare workers in 2020, but I think we will be OK to push this step through – given they all believe Covid’s no issue. ➲ Step Eleven : Let’s force everyone to send their sick children to school. Hold on, during a pandemic? When we know the risks of multi-system organ damage and Long Covid – even in children? Risking repeat infections over and over? Yes. Let’s do it. No-one will mind. Trust me, it’s time. ➲ Step Twelve: Media never mention it, but weekly death totals are still on websites. We need to bury those numbers further. Let’s include the pandemic years as part of our baseline of “normal” for annual deaths, so that the excess deaths during those years is “normal”, and hides on-going death. ➲ Step Thirteen: Hold a ‘Covid Inquiry’ so that we can get it on record how well we did “during the pandemic”. Really hammer home the message that it must be over, and begin talking about “being prepared” for “the next pandemic”. Really important to repeat those messages again and again. So there you have it: a 13-step programme for convincing your population that a global pandemic is nothing to worry about; to ensure that the media never mention it; and to ignore the mounting evidence of excess deaths from Long Covid and post-Covid health issues in the millions. It’s quite impressive really. The worst thing is that the longer the Covid pandemic runs – now completely without mitigations – the more it will spread and mutate, and more cumulative damage will ensue. Perhaps it’s too late to make change given societal beliefs; perhaps not”. © 2023 NHS Palliative Care Medicine Consultant.
❦ Powerful interests want you to think COVID is no big deal, and over. Why? So you’ll go to work without demanding higher danger-pay and new safety measures. So you won’t ask more of your government for clean air in schools and hospitals. So office space doesn’t become a bad investment. So you’ll shop. So you’ll travel. So the dollars flow. © 2023 Walker Bragman . ➲
❦ Ten people who were wrong 1. The people who said it was the 'exit wave' in April 2020, October 2020, February 2021, July 2021, October 2021, January 2022, May 2022, September 2022, December 2022, January 2023, and March 2023 are also wrong when they say it's the exit wave in July 2023. 2. The people who said that kids don't catch it, they were wrong. 3. The people who said that everyone had already caught Covid in Spring 2020 and that we were all immune to it by June 2020, they were wrong. 4. The people who said Omicron was mild, they were wrong. 5. The people who said that Covid infection didn't harm kids, they were and are wrong. 6. The people who say that people are prone to illness now because of lockdowns three years ago, they're wrong. 7. The people who say that working from home is worse for your health than working in an office, they're wrong. 8. The people who said that the best way to stop the spread of Covid is to wash your hands, they were wrong. 9. The people who said that you can't get reinfected, they were wrong. 10. The people who said that there wouldn't be any reinfections, and then when there were reinfections said that the repercussions of them would be milder, they were wrong. 11. The people who said that Covid is over, they were wrong. 12. The people who said Covid was just a flu, they were wrong. 13. The people who said that everyone had to get it, they were wrong. 14. The people who said that variants would be rare, they're wrong. 15. The people who said that Covid was seasonal, they were wrong. 16. The people who said that long-term repercussions of Covid infections would be rare, they were wrong. 17. The people who said that vaccines would end the spread of Covid, they were wrong. 18. The people who said that it wasn't airborne, they were wrong. 19. The people who said that Covid infections don't damage your immune system, they were wrong. 20. The people who said that Omicron was nature's booster, they were wrong. The people who said that 5G was causing the pandemic, they were wrong. The people who said that the way to end the pandemic was to stop testing, they were wrong. The people who said that masks don't work were technically right if you're talking about masks that don't work, but if you're talking about respirators that do work when worn properly, they're wrong. The people who said that restaurants and cafés were safe, they were wrong. The people who say that Covid isn't causing heart disease, they're wrong. The people who said that it would only affect China and the Far East, they were wrong. The people who said that Western hospitals and healthcare would be able to cope with Covid, they were wrong. The people who said that we should just let it rip, they were wrong. The person who told us to eat out to help out, he was wrong. The people who said that Covid infections weren't causing the increased RSV waves, they were wrong. The people who said that Covid infection was safe for healthy people, they were wrong. The people who said that Long Covid was a psychological problem, they were wrong. The people who said that Long Covid was caused by deconditioning, they were wrong. The people who said that repeat Covid infections for kids would be harmless, they were wrong. The people who said that standing two metres apart meant that you were safe, they were wrong. The people who said that schools were not super-spreaders, they were wrong. The people who said that Covid was solely a respiratory infection, they were wrong. The people who said that we just have to get it over with, they were wrong. The people who said that Covid would attenuate, they were wrong. The people who said that we had to infect healthy children with Covid, they were wrong. The people who said that Covid infections were finite and did not persist inside you, they were wrong. The people who said that Covid was a hoax, they were wrong. The people who said that Covid did not cross the blood-brain barrier, they were wrong. The people who said that letting Covid spread would be good for the economy, they were wrong. The people who said that only people with pre-existing medical conditions would be at risk were technically right, except we all have pre-existing conditions, so they were wrong. The people who said that the vaccine was a greater risk for kids than the virus, they were wrong. The people who said that you should vax and relax, they were wrong. The people who said that frequent testing made people vulnerable to Strep A, they were wrong. The people who said that Long Covid doesn't exist, they were wrong. The people who said that Covid infection was unavoidable, they were wrong. The people who said that we're all in this together, they were wrong. The people who said that most of the effects of Covid were felt in the aging West and not in middle-income and developing countries, they were wrong. The people who said that Covid would not mutate to evade immunity, they were wrong. The people who said that we didn't need to lock down, they were wrong. The people who said that the best thing to do was to make Covid endemic, they were wrong. The people who said that HEPA air filtration doesn't help, they were wrong. The people who said that ventilation doesn't help, they were wrong. The people who said that it's safe to end isolation at five days, they were wrong. The people who said that it's safe to end isolation at three days if you're under 18, they were wrong. The people who said that there was no such thing as a Paxlovid rebound, they were wrong. The people who said that Molnupiravir wasn't triggering mutations, they were wrong. The people who said that Covid is no longer causing serious illness, they were wrong. The people who said that we need to learn to live with Covid were technically right, but they meant just catching it repeatedly forever, so they were wrong. The people who said that pathogenic infections are good for children, they were wrong. The people who said that the severity of on-going repercussions of a Covid infection depends on the severity of the initial infection, they were wrong. The people who said that Covid infections don't leave you vulnerable to other opportunistic infections, they were wrong. The people who said that Covid infections couldn't be chronic, they were wrong. The people who said that Covid couldn't damage your brain, they were wrong. The people who said that testing was pointless, they were wrong. The people who said that we overreacted in 2020, they were wrong. The people who said that there was no asymptomatic infection, they were wrong. The people who said that adults couldn't catch Covid from children, because adults are taller than children and stand above their coughs and sneezes, they were wrong. The people who said that Covid infections couldn't accelerate dementia progression, they were wrong. The people who said that Covid infections couldn't dysregulate the immune system, they were wrong. The people who said that Covid infections couldn't cause or trigger autoimmune disorders, they were wrong. The people who said that Covid infections couldn't cause permanent disruption to metabolic processes, they were wrong. The people who said that Covid infections were beneficial, they were wrong. The people who said that unvaccinated people generally have better outcomes from infections than vaccinated people, they were wrong. The people who said that Covid doesn't cause strokes, they were wrong. The people who said that Covid doesn't cause heart attacks, they were wrong. The people who said that Covid doesn't cause high blood pressure, they were wrong. The people who said that Covid mitigations were just delaying the inevitable, they were wrong. The people who said that Covid infections were only dangerous because the virus was novel, they were wrong. The people who said that it should be personal responsibility as to whether you use mitigations, they were wrong. The people who said that Covid wouldn't mutate past anti-viral treatments, they were wrong. The people who said that Covid would just go away, they were wrong. The people who said that you can only catch Covid from strangers, they were wrong. The people who said that herd immunity would end the pandemic, they were wrong. The people who said that hybrid immunity would end the pandemic, they were wrong. The people who said that super immunity would end the pandemic, they were wrong. The people who said that we had achieved herd immunity, they were wrong. The people who said that all the damage of Covid infections is evident at the time of the initial infection, they were wrong. The people who said that Covid infection doesn't affect developing foetuses, they were wrong. The people who said that Covid infections don't cause neurological issues, they were wrong. The people who said that Covid won't affect infants developmentally, they were wrong. The people who said that Covid infection doesn't affect cognitive function, they were wrong. The people who said that it takes fifteen minutes to get infected with Covid, they were wrong. The people who said that Covid particles couldn't hang in the air for hours and cause infections hours later, they were wrong. The people who said that singing, shouting, aerobic activity, breathing, coughing and sneezing are not aerosolising activities, they were wrong. The people who said that vaccine efficiency would not wane, they were wrong. The people who said that you can tell if you're infectious, they were wrong. The people who said that Covid infections do not increase your risk of death from other causes, they were wrong. The people who said that waves of Covid infection no longer put a strain on healthcare systems, they were wrong. The people who said that the cure for Long Covid was graded exercise, they were wrong. The people who said that a Covid infection guaranteed that you were safe from Covid for months, they were wrong. The people who said that people were just being hospitalised with Covid, they were wrong. The people who pretended that Covid didn't exist, they were wrong. The people who said that the cure for Covid was Ivermectin/Hydroxychloroquine/prayer, they were wrong. The people who said that Covid infections didn't cause blood-clots weeks and months after the initial infection was over, they were wrong. The people who said that it was impossible for Covid infections to cause or accelerate cancer, or that Covid infection couldn't damage the body's ability to fight cancer, they were wrong. The people who said that Covid infections couldn't reactivate latent viruses, they were wrong. The people who said that countries with x or y climates wouldn't experience waves of Covid infection, they were wrong. The people who said that Covid can't trigger, cause, or worsen epilepsy, they were wrong. The people who said that Covid infections couldn't cause appendicitis, they were wrong. The people who said that your pets couldn't catch or be harmed by Covid, they were wrong. The people who said that you had to catch Covid to strengthen your immune system, they were wrong. The people who said that Covid infections couldn't cause POTS, dysautonomia and tachycardia, they were wrong. The people who said that you couldn't be infected by two different variants at the same time, they were wrong. The people who said that your sense of smell always comes back if you lose it during a Covid infection, they were wrong. The people who said that Covid infections couldn't affect male or female fertility, they were wrong. The people who said that Covid infections couldn't cause erectile dysfunction, they were wrong. The people who said that Covid infections aren't causing massive excess deaths, they were wrong. The people who said that Covid infections wouldn't lower life expectancy, they were wrong. The people who said that there is no such thing as superspreader events, they were wrong. The people who said that you just need to have faith to not catch Covid, they were wrong. The people who said that talking about the pandemic makes the pandemic continue, they were wrong – except in the case where someone with Covid is talking to someone else without Covid about the pandemic, thereby giving them Covid. The people who said that Covid was evolving into a dead-end branch that would end the pandemic, so far they're wrong. The people who said that immunity by infection is better than immunity by vaccination, they were wrong. The people who said that Covid infections would not have a significant effect on the economy because only a small proportion of people become sick straight away, they were wrong. The people who said that Covid infections couldn't cause permanent damage to the immune system, they were wrong. The people who said that Covid infections couldn't present like a stomach bug, they were wrong. The people who said that Long Covid is caused by lockdowns or masks or anxiety or anything other than Covid infection, they were wrong. The people who said that Covid infections couldn't dysregulate your gut microbiome, they were wrong. The people who blamed other viruses for the damage done by Covid infections, they were wrong. The people who said that Long Covid doesn't cause fatigue, they were wrong. The people who said that Covid infections couldn't damage the autonomic nervous system, they were wrong. The people who said that Covid infections couldn't cause endothelial dysfunction, they were wrong. The person who told me that Covid particles couldn't travel across a room because they had to obey the laws of physics, they were wrong. The people who said that we should take it on the chin, they were wrong. The people who said that the mental health consequences of lockdown were worse than the consequences of Covid, they were wrong. The people who said that Covid variants couldn't spontaneously combine to form recombinant variants, they were wrong. The people who said that mask-wearing only protects the people around you, they were wrong. © 2023 Tern, a Priest in England . ➲
❦ “This is quite possibly the most absurd thing you will read today. Let’s take this one step at a time. For the purposes of this short essay, I will be ‘vulnerable’.”
❦ “I am realizing more and more how unusual, unscientific, unmedical, and counterproductive it is for the World Health Organization (WHO) to select the name COVID-19 and reject SARS2. In fact it would be most consistent with medical practice to just call it SARS. Here’s why. In 1981, cases of immunodeficiency emerged in San Francisco; in 1982 , the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC ) named this disease acquired immunodeficiency syndrome ( AIDS ). No agent was known at the time... Compare : in 2002 , cases of atypical non-bacterial pneumonia appeared in Guandong; in 2003 the CDC named this severe acute respiratory syndrome ( SARS ). No agent was known at the time... In 1983 , the virus that causes AIDS was discovered by Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Luc Montaignier. It was eventually named HIV in 1986 by the International Committee on the Taxonomy of Viruses ( ICTV ). Compare : in 2003 , the virus that causes SARS was isolated in Hong Kong, sequenced by the CDC and a Canadian consortium. It was named SARSCoV in 2004 by the ICTV. ➲ Taxon Details for Severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus ➤ In 1986 , a milder acquired immunodeficiency syndrome was discovered in West Africa, and the virus was quickly isolated by the Montaignier group. It had 50% sequence identity to HIV . The virus was named HIV-2 . The disease name ? Unchanged: AIDS . Compare : In 2019 , a severe acute respiratory distress syndrome was discovered in Wuhan and the virus was quickly isolated by Wuhan scientists. It had 79% sequence identity to SARSCoV . The virus was named SARSCoV-2 by the ICTV. The disease name ? Well, that’s when the WHO stepped in. To review: HIV-1 and HIV-2 are 50% identical , and both cause immunodeficiency . They result in different disease severities (you’re less likely to die from HIV-2) – but the diseases they cause are (or the disease they cause is) considered the same : AIDS . SARSCoV-1 and SARSCoV-2 are 79% identical , and both cause severe acute respiratory distress . They result in different disease severities (you’re less likely to die from SARSCoV-2), so by analogy to HIV-1/2→AIDS , the diseases they cause should be considered the same : SARS . However, the WHO stepped in (why does the CDC have to defer to them anyway?) and decided that the one requirement for the name was that it not mention SARS . Thus the terrible name COVID-19 was chosen. It stands for coronavirus disease , and thus has no useful medical information . It is an open suspicion that this was done to deflect criticism for a slow response to what is basically a second SARS epidemic . Because we already knew how to stop [the airborne] SARSCoV – and knew that it was bad – there was no excuse for not quickly addressing what is basically a strain of SARSCoV . The purposeful hiding of the identity of the COVID-19 virus – that it is a strain of SARS virus – has had severe negative consequences to world health . By not realizing that we are dealing with SARS, many political leaders have failed to address the epidemic forcefully enough. Also, the term COVID-19 hinders clinical education and communication . Let’s compare to AIDS again. Calling the disease(s) caused by HIV-1 and HIV-2 as AIDS in both cases has clinical utility . The signs and symptoms are similar enough that it helps to consider HIV-1/2 together . Considering HIV-1/2 together also reminds us that treatments and preventive steps we learn from one can be used on the other . Likewise, COVID-19 should have been called SARS , SARS2 , or – as a compromise – variably severe acute respiratory syndrome , vSARS . Li Wenliang , who warned about the new outbreak in Wuhan, had it exactly right : “Seven confirmed cases of SARS were reported... The latest news is, it has been confirmed that they are coronavirus infections , but the exact virus strain is being subtyped.” Disease names have always been guided by a desire to inform . The WHO has taken the opposite approach , to misinform . Not surprisingly, confusion has resulted. With millions dying , we are now seeing the tragic consequences of WHO’s placement of politics over medicine and science . Since some people seem to have already forgotten their history (or maybe were living under a rock when the WHO naming decision happened), here’s the quote from the WHO itself...” ✾ ❦ From Science , 12 Feb 2020 : “COVID-19. I’ll spell it: C-O-V-I-D hyphen one nine. COVID-19.” ‘That’s how Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, head of the World Health Organization (WHO), introduced the agency’s official name for the new disease that’s paralyzing China and threatening the rest of the world. The Coronavirus Study Group (CSG) of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses, the paper noted, had decided that the virus is a variant of the coronavirus that caused an outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2002–03. So, it named the new pathogen severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus 2 , or SARS-CoV-2 . But that’s not a name WHO is happy with , and the agency isn’t planning on adopting it. “From a risk communications perspective , using the name SARS can have unintended consequences in terms of creating unnecessary fear for some populations, especially in Asia which was worst affected by the SARS outbreak in 2003,” a WHO spokesperson wrote in an email to Science . “ For that reason and others , in public communications WHO will refer to ‘the virus responsible for COVID-19’ or ‘the COVID-19 virus , ’ but neither of these designations is intended as replacements for the official name of the virus” that the study group has picked. Misunderstandings about the virus and disease names began almost immediately ...’ 📖 (12 Feb 2020 ~ Science) Update: ‘A bit chaotic.’ Christening of new coronavirus and its disease name create confusion ➤ ✾ ❦ From the WHO Director-General’s mouth on 11 Feb 2020 : — “First of all, we now have a name for the disease: COVID-19. I’ll spell it: C-O-V-I-D hyphen one nine – COVID-19. Under agreed guidelines between WHO, the World Organisation for Animal Health and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, we had to find a name that did not refer to a geographical location, an animal, an individual or group of people, and which is also pronounceable and related to the disease .” [Ed: So ‘ SARS ’ would’ve worked, then.] “Having a name matters to prevent the use of other names that can be inaccurate or stigmatizing. It also gives us a standard format to use for any future coronavirus outbreaks ...” 📖 (11 Feb 2020 ~ World Health Organization) WHO Director-General’s remarks at the media briefing on 2019-nCoV on 11 February 2020 ➤ ❂ © 2020 by Dr. Michael Lin, MD PhD ➲
