COVID-19 variants have dominated the headlines for weeks. But while officials said the public should not worry about the variants, they seemed a little more concerned over the weekend.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in a recent newsletter that B.1.1.7, the COVID-19 variant distributed in the UK and distributed to the US, ‘could possibly be associated with a higher degree of deaths. ‘ Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, also said during an appearance on MSNBC that US officials B.1.1.7, as well as the 501.V2 variant, or the South South America, are also fine watch. African variant.
Fauci said it was a little more worrying that the South African variant could negatively affect monoclonal antibodies given for the treatment of the virus. “It seems to further reduce the effectiveness of the vaccine, but we are still within the cushioning level of the vaccines that are effective against this,” he said.
“These are serious situations that we follow very closely and if necessary, we will adapt to them,” Fauci continued. He also said that the vaccines, if necessary, could change in the future. This new information raises many questions about the COVID-19 vaccines related to the variants. Here’s what you need to know.
First, it is important to understand how COVID-19 vaccines work
Currently, there are two vaccines authorized in the US to use against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19: one from Pfizer-BioNTech and the other from Moderna. Both use a new technology called messenger RNA (mRNA).
These vaccines work according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) by encoding a portion of the ear protein found on the surface of SARS-CoV-2. The mRNA vaccines use pieces of the encoded protein of SARS-CoV-2 to create an immune response of your body, causing it to create antibodies against SARS-CoV-2.
After that, your body eliminates the protein and the mRNA, but the antibodies stick. What is unclear at this stage is how long the antibodies last. However, it is expected that they will have residual power, says dr. Amesh A. Adalja, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Safety, expert in infectious diseases.
How do the variants of ‘ordinary’ COVID-19 differ?
There are currently different variants in circulation, but the two that receive the most attention are the British tribe (B.1.1.7) and the South African tribe (501.V2). B.1.1.7 has several mutations in its genetic makeup, and some are in the ear protein of the virus, according to the CDC. It seems that some of these mutations make the virus better able to attach to your cells than ‘regular’ SARS-CoV-2, which makes this newer strain more contagious. Thomas Russo, a professor and head of infectious diseases at the University of Buffalo, tells Yahoo Life.
The South African strain also has several mutations in its ear protein, says the CDC. And it all seems to spread more easily than the regular SARS-CoV-2.
How effective are the COVID-19 vaccines against the variants?
From now on, it seems to be effective in preventing COVID-19 in people who are vaccinated. Both vaccines have an efficacy rate of up to 95 percent compared to the traditional form of SARS-CoV-2. “It’s really good and much better than we initially expected,” says Russo.
Since the emergence of the British and South African variants, both Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna have said that their vaccines are effective against the newer strains in laboratory tests.
“The Moderna COVID-19 vaccine expresses the full-length peak protein of the SARS-COV-2 virus, which provides for the induction of neutralizing antibody responses at various domains of the protein,” Moderna said in late December in a statement. press release explained. ‘The full-length ear protein is 1,273 amino acids long, so although recent variants involve multiple mutations, for example up to eight amino acid changes in the ear protein of the B.1.1.7 strain, it represents less than one percent difference from the ear protein produced by Moderna’s vaccine. coded. ”
Moderna announced in a press release on Monday that, after the vaccine against the variants had actually been tested, there was ‘no significant impact’ on the neutralization of titers – the concentration of antibodies in the body) – for B.1.1.7. However, the company says that the neutralization of titers with the South African variant has decreased sixfold. Despite the reduction, Moderna says the neutralizing titers “remain above levels that are expected to be protective.”
Yet Moderna announced that it has a strategy to “proactively address the pandemic as the virus continues to evolve.” The company plans to test an extra dose of its vaccine to see if it will increase antibodies against emerging strains, as well as an emerging candidate that will promote the South African variant. “Moderna expects that its mRNA-based booster vaccine can further promote the neutralizing titers in combination with all the leading vaccine candidates,” the company said in its press release.
So, what happens now?
Based on what is currently known, the vaccines are likely to be effective against the variants. All the data shows that it will be effective, ”says Adalja. The research on the variants and vaccines so far has been in laboratories – not in humans – making it difficult to know with certainty how much a drop in antibodies in a laboratory actually translates to the real world, he says. “Vaccines do not cause just one type of antibody,” explains Adalja. “There are a whole host of antibodies, as well as T cell immunity to consider.” And all of this together can help prevent COVID-19, he says.
There is also this to consider, per Russo: there is a decent amount of wrapping space, as the vaccines are 95 percent protective. “We may lose some effectiveness due to the 95 percentage point, but even though the effectiveness decreases, the probability is still that the virus will be less serious and less likely to cause a bad outcome in people who get the vaccine. , “he says. ‘The unresolved question at this stage is what is going to be our efficacy threshold for changing the formulation and then producing the alternative vaccine? We are not there yet, and it may never have to happen. ”
Dr. David Cennimo, assistant professor of pediatric infectious diseases at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, tells Yahoo Life that it’s reassuring ‘to know that the vaccine’s antibodies’ still bind well’ to prevent COVID-19 . But he adds: ‘I suspect they do not bind as well as they would in a non-varying virus. Therefore, they talk about the possibility of needing different vaccines in the future. ”
At the moment, Moderna is investigating a carrier vaccine “just in case we need it,” says Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease specialist and professor at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, at Yahoo Life. “I hope not,” he adds.
In general, people should be confident that the vaccine is “so far so good,” Schaffner says. “I do not think we should get too excited about this,” he says. “Let’s all be vaccinated now with the vaccine available whenever we can, and if we need a boost, we’ll deal with it.”
For the latest coronavirus news and updates, follow along https://news.yahoo.com/coronavirus. According to experts, people over the age of 60 and those with an immune system are at greatest risk. If you have any questions, please refer to the CDCse en WIE’s resource guides.
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