After a new variant of COVID-19 has been recently found in the United Kingdom and other countries, two pharmaceuticals leading companies, Pfizer and Moderna, are testing their vaccines to see if they work against the new mutated version.
According to Moderna’s statement, “Based on the data to date, we expect that the Moderna vaccine-induced immunity would be protective against the variants recently described in the UK; we will be performing additional tests in the coming weeks to confirm this expectation,” according to the Moderna statement.
Pfizer said that “It is now generating data on how well blood samples from people immunized with its vaccine may be able to neutralize the new strain from the UK.”
As per the reports, the coronavirus has mutated before, and Moderna and Pfizer say they’ve found that their vaccines worked against other variations of the coronavirus.
The two companies’ statements come after when the world is concerned about a new variant of the novel coronavirus that has rapidly spread through the UK.
It is to note that experts are unsure of the importance of this mutation, but many countries, including Canada, have imposed restrictions on travelers from the UK.
The United States has not banned flights to and from the UK. However, the White House is asking travelers from the UK to present proof of a negative coronavirus test before arriving in the US, two administration officials said.
According to the US Surgeon General Jerome Adams, the UK variant doesn’t change what we need to do regarding staying protected.
He added that “What’s important for people to understand as this doesn’t change what we need to do.” “We need to wear masks, wash hands, watch our distances and wait on gatherings, and we need to get vaccines, get vaccinated when those become available to us.”
The fact is that variant or not, the US has failed to limit the spread of Covid-19 since its initial days. The winter solstice on Monday marked the darkest day of the year. The US reported about 191,000 new Covid-19 cases and 1,700 new deaths on Monday as more than 115,000 people were hospitalized with the virus, a record high.
The COVID outbreaks are not limited to any specific region, as in earlier in the pandemic. According to data from Johns Hopkins University, the states with the newest coronavirus cases over the past week are Tennessee, California, and Rhode Island.
When the days are set to get longer, and spring’s renewal nears, so is the promise of widespread vaccinations. More than 614,000 doses of the vaccine have been administered, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and tens of millions more are expected in the coming months.
The director of the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Dr. Anthony Fauci, said that the UK coronavirus variant is probably already in the US.
“You have to make that assumption,” Fauci said on Monday.
Fauci added that “When you see something that is pretty prevalent in a place like the UK, there are also mutations that we’re seeing in South Africa, and given the travel throughout the world, I would not be surprised if it’s already here in the US.”
According to the CDC, more than 4.6 million vaccine doses have been delivered, and about 614,000 doses have been administered in the US just over a week since US vaccinations began.
The first round of doses has been given to assisted living facilities, federal officials, and health care workers like Dr. Joseph Varon.