William A. Haseltine - Variants! The Shape-Shifting Challenge of COVID-19

Why Variants?

The word variants sends shivers up my spine. Variants are the bte noireof cancer therapy. Cancer cells are escape artists, developing resistance almost as fast as you can select and develop new drugs. Variants were the bugaboo throughout my years at Harvards Dana Farber Cancer Institute, first combating cancer then HIV/AIDS. It is HIV's neverending capacity to change that frustrates our ability to develop an anti-AIDS vaccine and complicates our efforts to find combinations of drugs to pin the master of all changelings down.

In the spring of 2020, I first learned that contrary to all expectations SARS-CoV-2 was not as stable as we initially believed. My first thought was, Here we go again!I calmed down throughout the long summer months and early fall. Then the bombshell from Britain!

"We now have a new variant of the virus and its been both frustrating and alarming to see the speed with which the new variant is spreading," intoned the Prime Minister. "With most of the country already under extreme measures, its clear that we need to do more together to bring this new variant under control.

Within weeks, the same news from South Africa, then Brazil, and most recently Southern California. Where next, I thought. As I write today February 4th, The French prime minister just announced the frequency of variants in France increased from 3.3% on January 8 to 14% today!

I decided to learn as much as I could about these variants to know what they can and cannot do. Can variants evade our vaccines? Can variants infect those who have recovered? Will Covid-19 return year after year like the flu but far deadlier? These are the questions I ask and seek to answer in this book and which I will update regularly in subsequent editions, which are available to you for free at www.williamhaseltine.com/covidvariants by entering the password: variants.

In my years of research and development, I have come to respect the wonders and complexities of each of our deadly foes. Each is perfectly adapted to its ecological niche, which unfortunately happens to be us. Each is capable of further intricate adaptation, allowing it to thrive despite our valiant efforts at prevention and treatment.

SARS-CoV-2 is like the mythical Proteus, the son of Poseidon. In Homers Odyssey, Menelaus must wrestle Proteus to a standstill to discover the way home. Representing the everlasting changing sea, Proteus is the quintessential shape-changer, altering his form when grasped first to beast, then to serpent, finally to eagle. Only by persistence does Menelaus triumph. Exhausted from battle, Proteus grants his wish and Menelaus is at last on his way home. It is my fervent hope that through our determination, our persistence, and our science, we too shall find our way through this dark winter to a brighter future.

William A. Haseltine