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A new variant of the COVID-19 virus has been discovered in a Kentucky nursing home, where it is believed to have infected 45 residents and healthcare workers, according to scientist William A. Haseltine.
The variant, called R.1, originated in Japan and infected many residents and nursing home workers in Kentucky who were fully vaccinated, Haseltine said.
R.1 has now received over 10,000 entries in the GISAID SARS-CoV-2 Database, the world’s largest database that researchers use to track and record genomic data.
“The variant contains five mutations previously noted in variants of concern or of interest… It also contains many unique mutations,” Haseltine wrote for Forbes.
“R.1 is a variant to watch out for. It gained a foothold in Japan and the United States. In addition to several mutations, notably in the spike and core protein in common with the variants of concern, R.1 possesses a set of unique mutations which may confer an additional advantage in transmission, replication and immune suppression.
Haseltine’s comments come just days after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Vaccine Advisory Committee voted to recommend not providing Pfizer booster vaccines to the general public, but recommended the vaccines for them. Americans aged 65 and over and for those at high risk, dealing a blow to the Biden administration’s vaccination program.
While U.S. health officials, some other countries, and vaccine makers have argued that the recalls are necessary for everyone, many scientists, including some in the FDA, disagreed. , noting that regulators have yet to independently verify all available data.
Some FDA staff have also noted that it is currently unclear whether those given a booster dose would have an increased risk of side effects, such as myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle) or pericarditis ( inflammation of the outer wall of the heart).
Since April, increased cases of myocarditis and pericarditis have been reported in the United States following vaccinations using the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, especially in adolescents and young adults, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
A recent study by several leading scientists from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the FDA also found that the general population does not need a booster dose and instead requested that current stocks of vaccines are given to unvaccinated populations, such as income countries.
“Even if the booster was ultimately shown to reduce the medium-term risk of serious illness, current vaccine supplies could save more lives if used in previously unvaccinated populations,” the authors wrote.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also called on the United States to suspend development of booster injections until the end of 2021 and share the remaining vaccines with underdeveloped countries.
“I will not remain silent when the companies and countries that control the global vaccine supply think the world’s poor should be content with leftovers,” he told a press conference on September 8. deals with rich countries willing to pay a high price, low-income countries have been deprived of the tools to protect their populations.
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Katabella Roberts is a journalist currently based in Turkey. She covers current affairs and business for The Epoch Times, focusing primarily on the United States.
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