The Bristol variant of the coronavirus has been detected for the first time in the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Wednesday.
Research into the variant shows that it has the same composition as the Kent strain in the UK, but with an additional mutation on the E484K vein protein.
Public Health England (PHE) considers the Bristol variant to be one of the four worrying variants in the UK because of its potential impact on Covid-19 vaccines.
“E484K is currently the mutation with the most evidence that it has caused antigenic alteration,” PHE said in a statement last week. “Several independent studies showing the impact of different antigenic variants have concluded that E484K is among the single mutations with the greatest impact.”
Scientists have tested Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine against the E484K and N501Y mutations, both found in the UK and South African variants. The study found that the vaccine apparently still works, but if it is presented slightly less effectively against the virus.
Mutations have so far not been shown to make the coronavirus vaccines ineffective, but it has become of concern to healthcare professionals about how quickly the virus has changed. Health officials have urged rapid vaccinations from the public to prevent a mutation that could seriously affect the vaccine.
Dr Rochelle Walensky, the CDC director, warned on Wednesday about the impact of these variants during a press briefing in the White House.
These variants can jeopardize progress, said dr. Walensky said, at a time when the number of cases and hospitalizations in the U.S. has declined by about 20 percent in a seven-day average over the past week.
The first variant that caused concern from the United Kingdom was the B.1.1.7, which has now been detected in 41 states and the District of Columbia. Due to the supposed high portability of the variant, experts have warned that it could become the most important mutation by March.
Now the E484K mutation has also been detected in the US.
In a separate report released by the CDC on Wednesday, researchers from Zambia explained the rapid increase in Covid-19 cases in Zambia and how it contributed to the B.1.351 variant, which was first detected in South Africa. is.
“Distribution of the B.1.351 variant is of public health concern due to the possibility of increased transmissibility and thus increased cases, hospitalizations and deaths,” researchers wrote.
The B.1.351 variant has also been detected in several states and has features that scientists are concerned about its possible impact on vaccine efficacy.