The emergence of new coronavirus variants should be a “wake-up call” for the country, Anthony Fauci
Anthony Fauci COVID-19 cases dropped, but variants point to dangers ahead First US cases of South African virus variant reported in South Carolina Fauci warns COVID-19 situation ‘possibly worse’ given new variants MORE said Friday.
Speaking at a White House coronavirus briefing, Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the various mutations have “clinical implications” that need to be addressed.
Recent studies by Johnson & Johnson and Novavax have shown some protection in their vaccines against variants, but the results are much weaker against the B.1.351 strain, first discovered in South Africa.
“This is a wake-up call for all of us,” Fauci said. “We will continue to see the evolution of mutants, so we … will have to be agile to adapt easily to make versions of the vaccine that actually specifically target the mutation that is going on at any given time.”
Director of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Rochelle WalenskyRochelle Walensky The Hill’s Morning Report – Dems question process; January will be deadliest pandemic month The memo: Biden faces risks as COVID optimism stagnates. Overnight Health Care: Biden Advisor Delivers More Pessimistic Prediction About Vaccine Rollout | CDC Says Coronavirus Could Kill Up to 514K by Feb. 20 Vaccine Research Funds Have Been Abused for Decades, Watch Dog Says MORE said the country is working to speed up its genomic sequencing to better identify the different variants.
However, she said the virus is so widespread that any new case should be treated as if it were a new variant.
“By the time someone has symptoms, gets a test, has a positive result, and we get the order, our chances of doing real case check and and and and contact tracing is mostly gone,” Walensky said. “And so I think, and I think we should treat every case as a variant now during this pandemic.”
According to Fauci, the goal remains to vaccinate as many people as possible quickly.
“Mutations arise because the virus has a playing field, as it were, to mutate. If you stop that and stop replication, viruses cannot mutate,” says Fauci. “And that’s the reason we keep doing what we’re doing, which is to strengthen our ability and our implementation to vaccinate as many people as possible as soon as possible.”