- The vaccines from Johnson and Johnson and Novavax were again less effective, a new virus variant.
- “This is really a wake-up call for us,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci said.
- People still need to be vaccinated as quickly as possible, Fauci added.
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The US must step up its efforts to stop the spread of the coronavirus, said Dr. Anthony Fauci said Friday after two vaccines were less effective against a new variant of the virus.
“It’s really a wake-up call for us to be nimble and to adapt, as this virus will surely continue to develop and mutate,” Fauci said. He is the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
He was speaking at a conference call held by the National Institutes of Health to discuss data on Johnson & Johnson’s coronavirus vaccine. J&J said that the vaccine was 66% effective in preventing moderate and severe cases of COVID-19 in general, but less effective in South Africa, where a virus variant is spreading. Novavax said on Thursday that the coronavirus vaccine is also less effective against the coronavirus variant.
The first U.S. cases of the variant were identified Thursday.
Fauci said Americans should be vaccinated as soon as possible.
“The best way to prevent further evolution of a virus is to prevent it from recurring, and you do this by vaccinating people as quickly as possible,” he said during the briefing with other NIH officials and managers of J&J. .
Experts have previously expressed the hope that the COVID vaccines currently on the market, as well as those in development, will remain strong against the variants, as long as there are no major changes to the protein of the peak – an important component of the virus. But the South African variant has changes to the part of the virus.
Read more: Moderna designs a new version of its Covid-19 recording to address a new variant
Even the two vaccines currently sold in the US, made by Moderna and Pfizer, could be affected by the new variant. Both companies said their vaccines still need to produce enough protective antibodies to stop the virus, although laboratory results have shown that protection can be reduced. As a precaution, Moderna and Pfizer are now working on booster shots that can target variants directly.