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Dr Anthony Fauci said on Sunday that the UK variant strain of the coronavirus appears to be more deadly, but what that means for the vaccine’s effectiveness is still unknown.
The British strain had been widely reported to be a more contagious strain of the coronavirus, but experts had warned that it was not a more deadly variant.
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Now, new data suggests the variant is indeed deadlier, which Fauci discussed during an appearance Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation”.
Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, attends a Coronavirus Task Force press conference at the White House in Washington, DC, United States, Friday, April 10, 2020. Photographer: Kevin Dietsch / UPI / Bloomberg via Getty Images
“When UK investigators took a closer look at the death rate for a certain age group, they found it to be 1 per thousand, and it dropped to 1.3 per thousand in a certain group, so that’s a significant increase, ”Fauci said. Margaret Brennan.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson revealed on Friday that the new variant appears to be up to 30% more virulent, based on death rates in patients 65 years of age or older.
The British strain has been detected in the United States, with cases recorded in 22 states to date.
“We want to look at the data ourselves, but we have every reason to believe it,” Fauci said, referring to UK healthcare professionals. “We’re going to look at this and follow it very, very carefully because these things are changing.”
“We have to assume now that what is mainly circulating in the UK has some degree of increase in what we call virulence, namely the power of the virus to cause more damage, including death,” he said. -he adds.
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The Center for Disease Control (CDC) has predicted that due to its more contagious nature, the British variant will be the dominant strain in the United States by March.
So many fear the current vaccination effort will be in vain, but Fauci warned that the effects on the vaccine’s effectiveness remain unknown. Even with reduced efficacy, Fauci believes the effect would be minimal.
“When we look at the chain effect, this line which is the British line which is in at least 20 states in the United States, the antibodies induced by the vaccine … seem to continue to be protective against the mutant strain,” Fauci explained. “It’s a very minor decrease, but the margin of efficiency you have is so large that it won’t have a negative impact.”
Rather, Fauci stressed the importance of continuing to vaccinate as many people as possible, arguing that once again those vaccinated will help prevent further mutations in the virus from taking hold.
In addition, Fauci called for greater investment in “genomic surveillance,” which would help officials determine if and when new strains of the coronavirus would enter the United States.
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The South African strain has also raised some concerns, as it has been shown to decrease the effectiveness of some antibody treatments.
So far, no case of the South African variant has been discovered in the United States.
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