The most widely used American vaccines claim that they are able to quickly react to the challenges presented by South African Nu.
This new variant of the virus is thought to be most infective yet. Some fear that it may evade the protection offered by the COVID-19 vaccines.
Moderna, BioNTech, and Pfizer are the three major vaccine producers in America. They all stated that they could quickly make new vaccines to protect against any emerging variants.
The variant was not detected yet in the United States. However, it is known to be present in many countries in Africa, Europe and elsewhere in Africa, raising concerns among American officials.
CNBC’s Meg Tirell (pictured), reports that Moderna and Pfizer are both taking steps to update their COVID-19 vaccinations in the wake of the new South African virus strain.
This new strain contains over 30 mutations. Some have called it a ‘constellation.
“Moderna, BioNTech, and Pfizer have all told us that they’re already closely studying this and can quickly update vaccines if necessary.” CNBCTechCheck Friday: Meg Tirell.
Moderna will begin clinical trials to develop vaccines against potential resistant strains in as little as 60 days, Tirell reported.
Also, she reported that Pfizer could adapt its mRNA vaccinations within six weeks and would ship a product within 100 days.
“In two weeks BioNTech will have laboratory data that should tell us if this is really an escaped version, one which can really evade vaccine protections,” she stated.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published data Wednesday showing that more than 108 million Americans had been fully vaccinated using the Pfizer BioNTech and 71.5 millions with Moderna shots.
Johnson & Johnson, makers of the third vaccine available in the U.S., also say it is testing its vaccine’s effectiveness against this new variant.
The J&J vaccine has immunized nearly 16 million Americans, according to the CDC data.
After causing huge case surges in spring and summer, the Delta variant is now receding.
BioNTech indicated that they will be able to provide more details on this new strain in the coming weeks, as well as whether any vaccines work against it. Moderna and Pfizer both claim that updated vaccines can be obtained in the coming months. Photo: Vials of Moderna COVID-19 vaccines by Pfizer
It is unknown much about the variant’s new nature.
However, experts are concerned by what they have discovered so far.
Tirell noted that this variant contains more than 30 mutations of the spike protein. Tirell indicated that some are well-known and could increase transmissibility.
“They refer to it as an uncommon constellation of mutations.
“But, certain of these variants’ mutations are still unknown, so the effect they have on our understanding is not clear.
“So that we don’t know if that means that it causes more severe or less severe diseases, that is just impossible to say at the moment.
It is thought that the variant was formed in Botswana and has quickly caused an increase in cases in South Africa.
It was also found that some travelers traveling from Africa to Hong Kong had been infected by the virus.
Cases have quickly risen in South Africa’s Gauteng province, which includes Johannesburg, among young people in particular.
The new variant has been identified in at least 77 Covid cases.
It is the second Covid variant that has struck South Africa. The Beta variant had been first discovered in South Africa earlier in the year.
Although many infected people were fully vaccinated for the disease, experts worry about the ability of vaccines to stop it from spreading.
“A burning question is does it reduce vaccine effectiveness, because it has so many changes,” says Aris Katzourakis, a virologist at Oxford University told Nature.
