SINGAPORE – The world must remain vigilant over the next six months as the coronavirus vaccine is rolled out, as it will be some time for most of the population to get their vaccinations, the World Health Organization chief scientist told CNBC.
“We are going to approach the beginning of the end, we can see the light at the end of the tunnel,” said Dr. Soumya Swaminathan Wednesday. “However, there is one more tunnel that we have to go through, and the coming months will be very critical.”
Confirmed cases of Covid-19 have continued to increase at an alarming rate, with global infections exceeding 78 million, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University.
Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine is approved for emergency use in countries like the UK, US and Canada, while the US has also approved Modernas.
While we can look forward to a much better picture – certainly towards the end of next year -, I think the coming months will be difficult.
Soumya Swaminathan
Chief Scientist of the World Health Organization
Swaminathan said the vaccines initially protect a very small group of people who are the most vulnerable and most at risk, and that months will pass before the rest of the population can be covered.
“It will be until the end of 2021 before we start to see some degree of population immunity in some countries,” she told CNBC’s “Street Signs Asia” on Wednesday.
“We have to stay on our guard, we have to do all the things that we know will reduce transmission and the chances of people getting sick as a result,” she said. That includes public health measures and individual behavioral changes.
“While we can look forward to a much better picture – certainly towards the end of next year – I think the next few months will be tough,” she added.
New strain in the UK
Swaminathan separately discussed a new variant of the virus that recently emerged in the United Kingdom and has been identified in Australia, Denmark and Italy, among others.
She said it is unusual in that it has a large number of mutations and has separated from the average kind.
“What’s even more concerning is that it has about eight mutations in the region of the spike protein,” she added. The peak protein of the virus attaches to receptors found on the surface of human cells in the airways, or the ACE2 receptor in the case of Covid-19. Mutations have been detected in the portion of the protein that binds to receptors in the airways.
“That’s probably why this virus seems to have an advantage in infecting humans, it appears to be more efficiently transmitted, it appears to infect children who have fewer of these receptors,” she said.
People wear protective face masks while shopping at the Union Square Greenmarket on December 4, 2020 in New York City.
Noam Galai | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images
But she noted that the new variant “does not appear to increase clinical severity or make matters worse” for those infected by it.
The WHO said in a note that the strain “spreads more easily,” but that “there is currently not enough information” to determine whether mutations will alter the severity of the disease, antibody response, or vaccine efficacy.
Swaminathan said there is “no reason” to believe that current vaccines will not cover it at present. That’s because the vaccines produce a “broad immune response” that is likely to be effective against the new strain.
But if the vaccines need to be adjusted, it can be done “easily”. “If necessary, it can be done,” she said. “But right now I think most people think the current generation of vaccines should work fine.”