More infectious COVID-19 variant in at least five US states – NIH Director

(Reuters) – A more contagious variant of COVID-19 that has swept through the UK has been reported in at least five states in the United States, National Institutes of Health director Francis Collins said in an interview with the Washington Post on Wednesday .

“We have now seen this same British virus in the United States in at least five states and I would be surprised if it does not develop quickly enough,” Collins said, adding that it does not appear to be more serious, however.

Last week, Reuters reported that Florida became the third known U.S. state to identify such a case, with two more cases identified in Colorado and California.

The scientists said the newly developed vaccines should be equally effective against both variants.

The NIH director said he expects vaccinations to be carried out by pharmacies as soon as the country grapples with an increase in the number of cases, with the number of vaccinations falling well below initial targets.

He said in the interview that at least 80% to 85% of Americans would need to receive the vaccine to achieve “herd immunity.” (bit.ly/3opexFt)

Leading US infectious disease specialist Dr Anthony Fauci said in a separate interview that it was not clear what percentage of the population should be vaccinated for herd immunity.

“I originally said 70%, now based on my estimate it’s probably somewhere between 70% -85%,” Fauci said in an interview with the Economic Club in Washington, DC on Wednesday.

“We need to get enough people vaccinated so that the dynamics of the epidemic decrease dramatically,” he added. “I don’t think that will happen until late summer or early fall, if we do it right.”

The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it administered more than 4.8 million first doses of COVID-19 vaccines nationwide as of Tuesday morning and distributed more than 17 million doses.