Chicago’s top doctor said she’s less worried about the current variants being monitored in the U.S. because she has a greater concern that she’s monitoring.
The US monitors new variants of the coronavirus emerging in the US, some of which have already been identified in cases in Illinois.
The biggest concern in the city, Arwady said, was the variant first reported from the UK, which she said had been detected in at least a dozen cases in the city, but more across the state.
“This is the one that is considered more contagious, which is more contagious, but the vaccine remains very protective against it, as we saw in this trial here,” Arwady said during a Facebook Live Tuesday.
Apart from the British variant, others that originated in South Africa and Brazil also appeared in the USA, which expressed concern.
The Illinois Department of Public Health revealed earlier this month that the first case of the coronavirus variant B.1.351, first identified in South Africa, had been found in the state.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, current variants spread more easily and faster than other variants.
But experts believe the current vaccines in the US offer at least some protection against these variants, although Arwady has noted that one of the three strains poses a greater risk than others, and that is the variant from South Africa.
“It has been shown that one, especially some of the vaccines, has reduced the effectiveness against the strain,” Arwady said. “The Pfizer and the Moderna therefore remain protective against the strain, but not as protective, as to ward off a little. And then there is the AstraZeneca vaccine, which we do not yet have here, but it was the one that they intended to use in South Africa was really not very protective, it was less than 50% protective, and so South Africa actually stopped its vaccination campaign because they did not want to vaccinate people with a vaccine that is not protective “was not against the obstacle. That’s the kind of thing that worries me the most.”
The Food and Drug Administration said Monday that modified Covid-19 vaccines may be approved for new, emerging variants without the need for lengthy clinical trials, CNBC reported.
“Preliminary reports of clinical trials evaluating the candidates of COVID-19 vaccine in several countries including South Africa have raised concerns that the efficacy of the vaccine against the B.1.351 variant may be lower than against the original virus,” “the agency wrote in the document, referring to the tribe found in South Africa. “There is therefore an urgent need to start the development and evaluation of vaccines against these SARSCoV-2 variants.”
Another bigger problem is the risk of additional variants that may be more resistant to current vaccines being administered in the US, Arwady said.
The CDC notes that “genetic mutations are expected, and that some variants may spread and become predominant while others decrease.”
“I feel confident at the moment with the current variants that have emerged. We are in good condition,” Arwady said. “My long-term concern to be honest really has to do with global vaccine equity. So, the US has done more than 50 million doses of vaccine. Most countries around the world have not even started vaccinating yet and you think of countries that have lower incomes, have fewer resources – COVID is also there and it spreads, in some cases quite unnoticed, and this is the environment where you can see variants emerging … But if we were one shows up, you know, you can think of starting over and that’s the last thing anyone wants to do. ‘
So far, Arwady has said there have been few cases of re-infection, especially among those who received the vaccine.
“It’s rare for people to get COVID post-vaccination, but it does happen occasionally, and it’s people we want to check and make sure – do they have a variant? Was there anything else to their COVID?” Arwady said.
NBC 5 also has dr. Emily Landon, executive medical director of infection control and prevention at the University of Chicago Medicine, asked about the risks of re-infection.
“Now most people are not going to get COVID-19 a second time, but some people are at risk for it,” Landon said Thursday during the “Vaccinated State” panel.
According to Landon, people who experience re-infection are unlikely to get it for the second time in the first 90 to 180 days after their first infection, “but that does not mean you should not be extra careful.”
Landon added that some of the newer variants currently being distributed in the U.S. are more likely to cause recurrent illnesses.
“Some of the newer variants are more likely to cause disease in humans, and it’s more likely to cause recurrent disease – it can occur in people who have had COVID before,” Landon told NBC 5. “And so it’s very important that everyone gets the vaccine. It will improve your immunity, even if you already have COVID. And that’s one way you can fight COVID again and try to avoid it.”