What was missing: a new variant would have vaccine resistance

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) pointed out today that Mu variant of coronavirus, detected for the first time in Colombia and considered of “interest” by the WHO, It is “potentially disturbing” although there is still no data to show whether it will become more predominant than the Delta.

The EMA, although it focuses on the investigation of the Delta because of his high transmissibility, also observes “other variants that can spread, such as Lambda (identified in Peru) and more recently the Mu“said Marco Cavaleri, Head of Strategy for vaccines of the regulator, according to the AFP news agency.

“The (variant) Mu it might be potentially more worrying because it could show a possible risk of immunoevasion or resistance to vaccines“, he added. The EMA will meet with the research centers of vaccines on the effectiveness of drugs against this variant.

However, Cavaleri pointed out that “we still do not have data to show that the Mu variant also spreads widely or has a chance to outperform the Delta variant as the dominant strain “.

All viruses, including SARS-CoV-2 responsible for the Covid-19, they are constantly changing; Most of these changes have little or no impact on the characteristics of the virus, but some can affect how it is spread, the severity of the disease, or the effectiveness of treatments and vaccines.

Currently, the World Health Organization (WHO) identifies as variants of concern (VOCs) the Delta (first identified in India and causing new waves in many countries around the world), Alpha (detected in UK), Beta (from South Africa) and Gamma (from Manaus).

VOCs are the variants that are associated with one or more of the following changes to a significant degree: increased transmissibility or a detrimental change in the epidemiology of the disease. covid-19; increased virulence or change in the clinical presentation of the disease; and / or decrease in the effectiveness of social measures of diagnostics, vaccines and treatments available.

In addition, the WHO defined that there are Variants of Interest (VOI) that are Mu (identified for the first time in Colombia), And, Iota (from California), Kappa (another from India) and Lambda (known as the Andean variant, first identified in Peru and quite predominant in Latin America).