While countries race to vaccinate people against COVID-19, new variants of the coronavirus are again worries around the world.
In the US, approximately 1.7 million people receive daily injections from drug manufacturers Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna. The two vaccines were approved for emergency use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in late 2020. The drugs have also been approved for emergency use in Europe, South Korea and Japan.
Sputnik V, a vaccine developed by the Russian Ministry of Health, is given to people in Russia, Belarus, Venezuela, and other countries. The Chinese vaccines Sinopharm and Sinovac have been approved for emergency use in China, the United Arab Emirates, Brazil and Egypt.
Several other vaccines, including those from drug manufacturers Johnson & Johnson and Oxford-AstraZeneca, are awaiting decisions from health officials in some countries. At the same time, the United Nations-backed COVAX program aims to provide 2 billion vaccine treatments every yearincome countries around the world to fight the virus.
Worrying variants
Like other viruses, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, is always changing and changing all the time. Sometimes new variants appear and disappear. Other times, new variants appear and spread across many countries.
The head of the UK vaccination effort said the world is dealing with about 4,000 variants of the virus that causes COVID-19. But three variants found to be from South Africa, Great Britain, and Brazil are the most concerning.
Drug makers Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech said they are developing additional products booster shots to combat the worrying variants. Others noted that their shots showed varying levels of effectiveness against the variants.
On Monday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said drug manufacturers don’t need to start new trials for vaccines modified to combat the new variants. The health agency added that the companies could use a similar process for the annual flu shot to test the effectiveness of the updated vaccines.
Take the vaccine
Dr. Gigi Gronvall is a professor at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. She spoke with reporters last week to discuss vaccines and their effectiveness against the coronavirus variants. Gronvall said some people are concerned the vaccine won’t work against the variants. But she wanted people to understand that if they could get a vaccine, they had to take it.
If you’ve had the vaccine and your friend hasn’t, and you are both exposed for someone who has the virus, you are 95 percent less likely to get sick, so you’re 95 percent less at risk than your friend. So that’s how you should think about it. “
Dr. Andy Pekosz, another professor at Johns Hopkins University, joined Gronvall in the video conversation with reporters. He noted that the variants came from South Africa and Great Britain as the virus spread easily. He said that every time the virus moves to a new person, it can change something. So the way to prevent more changes in the virus is to prevent it from passing to a new person through vaccination.
“That’s really the criticism thing. You have seen the emergence of variants in times when countries really did peak amounts of virus spread. “
The two scientists added that public health officials should continue to do so in addition to vaccines emphasize other preventative measures, including wearing a face cover and spending time in areas with good air flow.
I am Dan Friedell.
Dan Friedell and Hai Do wrote this storyMario Ritter, Jr. was the editor.
After reading this story, are you more or less concerned about the virus variants? We want to hear from you. Write to us in the comments section and visit our Facebook page
Words in this story
variant – n. something that is somehow different from others of the same kind
income –N. money earned from work, investments and business; used to describe the average amount people earn in a particular place
booster (shot) –N. an additional amount of a vaccine that is injected into a person or animal that improves or extends protection against a targeted disease
bare – v. to make sure that something is affected by a virus or something that could be harmful
emphasize – v. to pay special attention to something
criticism – adj. extremely important
peak – adj. filled with the most activity