UK, Africa COVID-19 variants may be more deadly, officials warn
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UK, Africa COVID-19 variants may be more deadly, officials warn
UK, Africa COVID-19 variants may be more deadly, officials warn | Monday, January 25, 2021
This transmission electron microscope image shows SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, isolated from a patient in the U.S. Virus particles are shown emerging from the surface of cells cultured in the lab. The spikes on the outer edge of the virus particles give coronaviruses their name, crown-like. | NIAID-RML
Even as 195 cases of a variant of the coronavirus, which first emerged in Britain and is more lethal and contagious, have been found in 22 U.S. states, a separate variant from South Africa, though not identified in the United States yet, is causing more concerns among health officials, according to reports.
NEW YORK (NYTIMES) - Moderna s vaccine is effective against new Covid-19 variants that have emerged in Britain and South Africa, the company said on Monday (Jan 25).
But it appears to be less protective against the variant discovered in South Africa, and so the company is developing a new form of the vaccine that could be used as a booster shot against that virus. We re doing it today to be ahead of the curve should we need to, said Dr Tal Zaks, Moderna s chief medical officer. I think of it as an insurance policy.
He added: I don t know if we need it, and I hope we don t.
Dive Brief:
Moderna on Monday said its vaccine for COVID-19 should still protect against coronavirus variants first detected in the U.K. and in South Africa, citing results from laboratory testing that showed the blood of immunized volunteers in an early study contained antibodies capable of neutralizing the virus.
Even so, the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based biotech plans to study whether an additional booster shot, or a new booster engineered specifically against the South African variant, could provide better protection.
Vaccine and public health experts have grown more concerned that accumulating mutations in the spike protein targeted by many of the shots authorized and in testing could help the coronavirus evade vaccination. So far, however, evidence indicates the available vaccines, which generate multifaceted immune responses, should still be effective.
Posted: Jan 25, 2021 12:07 PM ET | Last Updated: January 25
The two-dose Moderna vaccine currently approved for use in Canada appears to protect against two key coronavirus variants, the company announced on Monday, though it may be less effective against the B1351 variant found in South Africa. (Greg Lovett /Northwest Florida Daily News/The Associated Press)
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Two crossed lines that form an X . It indicates a way to close an interaction, or dismiss a notification. Moderna s COVID-19 vaccine was the second to be authorized for emergency use in the US. Radek Mica /AFP via Getty Images
Moderna says its current coronavirus shot probably protects against two fast-spreading variants.
But the shot showed lower levels of antibodies in lab testing against one of them.
The company is now tailoring a version of its vaccine to that strain, first found in South Africa.
Moderna s coronavirus vaccine is probably still protective against a virus strain first found in South Africa, but the Massachusetts biotech on Monday said it planned to soon start testing a booster shot tailored to protect people against that variant.