VOCs
There has been some research lately which pegs the P.1 transmissibility at 2.5x more than COVID Classic. Ulp.
The good news is that everything I have seen is that the vaccines work well against it.
Scientists have found that mice — just your regular standard lab mice — can get the P.1 and B.1.351 (and to a much lesser extent, B.1.1.7) variants of COVID-19. This is bad news, because that means that there is yet another possible reservoir for the virus. It’s also good news, however, because it means that now we can study the virus in mice. :frowny-shrug:
Vaccines
Well, it looks like I was wrong about the blood clotting problems with AZ being coincidence. Two different teams of scientists found that the vaccine could cause an autoimmune response the would lead to blood clots in the veins which drain blood from the brain, leading to strokes.
Note that this specific problem — cerebral venous sinus thrombosis — is very rare: there have been seven cases out of the millions vaccinated (and there are far, far more cases of thrombosis from birth control pills, though those are usually in the legs and not the brain, ibid).
Addendum: this is the same mechanism as heparin-induced thrombosis, so they have some familiarity with the problem and how to treat it.
And — here’s the fantastic news — the scientists say that with quick diagnosis, it is easy to treat with intravenous immunoglobulin and blood thinners.