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Dr Anthony Fauci said the recent Johnson & Johnson vaccine study, along with the one conducted by Novavax, is proof that coronavirus mutations that lead to a different lineage “have clinical consequences” and should serve as a “signal alarm “that vaccines currently in development may require adjustments to control new strains.
Fauci’s comments came hours after J&J released a study showing that its single-dose vaccine was 72% effective in the United States against moderate to severe coronavirus, but fell to 66% in Latin America and 57% in South Africa, where a “troublesome” variant has taken over.
“What we now know from this study, namely the J&J and Novavax study, that the antigenic variation, the IE mutations that lead to a different lineage, have clinical consequences because, as you can see, even though the long-term effect in the sense of severe illness is still reasonably well managed by vaccines, it is a wake-up call to all of us that we are going to face, as the virus uses its devices to escape pressure, in particular immunological pressure, that we will continue to see the evolution of mutants, ”he said during Friday’s coronavirus briefing at the White House.
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“This means that we as government, as companies, all of us who are in the same boat, will have to be nimble so that we can easily adapt and easily create versions of the vaccine that are actually specifically aimed at the actual mutation. prevalent at all times, ”he said.
The so-called British variant, identified as B.1.1.7, has already been detected in over 300 cases in the United States, while P.1. a mutation, believed to originate from Brazil, was confirmed in a Minnesota case. The South African variant, which health officials previously described as worrying, was detected in two cases in South Carolina earlier this week. The cases have no epidemiological relationship, CDC director Dr Rochelle Walensky said during Friday’s appeal.
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Walensky and Fauci said increased genomic surveillance and sample testing would strengthen the nation’s ability to fight mutations, and potentially avoid scenarios that could see one dominate the other. Fauci said the best defense, in addition to pursuing public health measures, is to vaccinate as many people as possible to maintain low transmissibility.
“All of this tells us that this is an incentive to do what we have been saying from the start – vaccinate as many people as possible as quickly as possible,” he said. “Mutations happen because the virus has a playing field to mutate, so to speak. If you stop this and stop replication, the virus cannot mutate.
He said the variant that was gaining traction in Los Angeles and California was a result of the amount of virus in the community.
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“You can be sure that as long as there are a lot of viruses in the community, there will be an evolution of mutants, which is what viruses do, especially RNA viruses,” he says. “You are giving the virus the ability to adapt.”
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