Christy Ruffell, clinical nursing standards manager at UCHealth Medical Center, left, administers the Covid-19 vaccine to CNA Luis Perez, right, at UCHealth Poudre Valley Hospital on December 14, 2020 in Fort Collins, Colorado.
Helen H. Richardson | The Denver Post | Getty Images
The czar of President Donald Trump’s coronavirus vaccine said on Monday he expects Pfizer and Moderna’s Covid-19 shots to be effective against a new mutation of the virus in the UK.
The comment came after the UK said on Saturday it had identified a new mutation of the virus that could spread faster than previous variants. Countries like Italy, Germany, Canada and Israel have blocked flights from the UK after reports of the new species.
The mutations include changes in the spike protein that the virus uses to infect human cells. The vaccines elicit an immune response against various structures found around the spike protein, a multi-functional mechanism that allows the virus to enter the host, Dr. Moncef Slaoui, chief scientific advisor on Trump’s Operation Warp Speed vaccine program, told reporters at a news conference. The probability that one set of mutations would completely change those structures “is extremely low,” he added.
Both the Pfizer vaccine and the Moderna vaccine use messenger RNA or mRNA technology. It’s a new approach to vaccines that uses genetic material – in this case, a harmless piece of spike protein – to trigger an immune response against the virus.
Herbie Severe will receive the Covid-19 vaccine with the first batch of Moderna’s vaccine at Hartford Hospital in Hartford, Connecticut on December 21, 2020.
Joseph Precious | AFP | Getty Images
Slaoui said he spoke with UK health authorities about the new strain earlier Monday. He said to date that there is no “hard evidence” that the virus is more easily transmitted than the original strain of the disease.
“There is clear evidence that there is more of it in the population,” he said, adding that the emergence of the new strain is also due to the fact that scientists can now track variants of the virus more quickly. Before British scientists may not have been looking for this variant and infections were happening in the “shadow,” he said.
A safe and effective vaccine is seen by investors and policymakers as a solution to get the global economy back on track after the pandemic wreaked havoc in almost every country in the world and turned businesses upside down.
Americans are expected to get some of the first shots of the Moderna vaccine Monday after the Food and Drug Administration approved the vaccine for emergencies on Friday. The US will distribute 5.9 million doses of the vaccine across the country this week, as well as 2 million doses of Pfizer’s vaccine, which was approved for emergency use on Dec. 11, health officials said Monday.
This is a story in progress. Check the updates.