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About 20 states across the country have discovered the more transmissible B.1.1.7 SARS-CoV-2 variant so far. Given the unknown factors of the emerging situation, experts from the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) spoke out on the effectiveness of vaccines, how well equipped the United States is to detect new mutations, and shared their impressions of the COVID-19 executive orders from President Joe Biden.
Dr. Mirella Salvatore
One of the biggest concerns remains the ability of COVID-19 vaccines to act on new strains. “All our vaccines target the spike protein and try to elicit neutralizing antibodies that bind to that protein,” said Mirella Salvatore, MD, assistant professor of medicine and public health sciences at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City, at a news conference. from IDSA. on Thursday.
The B.1.1.7 mutation occurs in the “key” spike protein, a component of the SARS-CoV-2 virus required for binding that allows the virus to enter cells, added Salvatore, an IDSA -fellow, please.
The evidence suggests that SARS-CoV-2 should be able to produce one or two mutations per month. However, the B.1.1.7 variant surprised researchers in the United Kingdom when they first discovered that the strain had 17 mutations, Salvatore said.
It is still not known why this particular strain is more transmissible, but Salvatore speculated that the mutation gives the virus an advantage and increases binding, allowing it to enter cells more easily. She added that the mutations may have originated in immunocompromised people infected with SARS-CoV-2, but “that’s just a hypothesis.”
Dr. Kathryn Edwards
On a positive note, Kathryn M. Edwards, MD, another IDSA fellow, explained during the briefing that the existing vaccines target more than one location on the virus’s spike protein. Therefore, “if there is a mutation that changes a structure of the spike protein, there will be other regions where binding can take place.”
This polyclonal response “is why the vaccine may still be effective against this virus,” added Edwards, scientific director of the Vanderbilt Vaccine Research Program and professor of pediatrics at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, Tennessee.
Salvatore stressed that while the new variant is more transferable, it doesn’t appear to be more deadly. “This can affect overall mortality, but not for the person who gets the infection.”
Stay one step ahead
When asked for assurance that COVID-19 vaccines will work against emerging variants, Edwards said, “We may need to change the vaccine to make it more responsive to new variants, but at the moment it doesn’t seem to be . “
Should the vaccines need an update, the mRNA vaccines have an advantage: researchers can quickly review them. “All you have to do is put all the little nucleotides together,” Edwards said.
“A number of us are looking at how this will work, and we’re looking at flu,” she added. Edwards drew an analogy with choosing – and sometimes updating – the flu strains every year for the annual flu vaccine. With the right funding, the same system could be replicated to address any evolving changes to SARS-CoV-2, she said.
As for funding, Salvatore said more money would be needed to optimize the emerging species monitoring system in the United States.
“We actually have this system – there’s a wonderful network sequencing the flu strains,” she said. “The structure exists, we just need the funding.”
“The CDC is making the system work to sequence more viruses,” said Edwards.
Both experts praised the CDC for its website providing up-to-date surveillance information on emerging strains of SARS-CoV-2.
Biden’s Backing of Science
A reporter asked each infectious disease expert to give their impression of Biden’s newly signed COVID-19 executive orders.
“The biggest takeaway is the role of science and the lessons we’ve learned from masks, hand washing and distance,” said Edwards. “We have to follow the advice …[especially] with a variant that is more contagious.
“It’s encouraging that science will be heard – that’s the overall message,” she added.
Salvatore agreed, saying that the orders “make us feel like we can act now by following science.”
“We have numerous papers showing the effectiveness of masking,” she said. Salvatore acknowledged that in the United States there are “many conflicting ideas about masking,” but stressed its importance.
“We need to follow measures that we know work,” she said.
Both experts said more research is needed to stay ahead of this changing scenario. “We still need a lot of basic science to show how this virus replicates in cells,” said Salvatore. “We really need to characterize all these mutations and their functions.”
“We have to worry, do follow-up studies,” she added, “but we don’t have to panic.”
This article was based on a media briefing from the Infectious Diseases Society of America on January 21, 2021. Salvatore announced that she is a PI on a Verily life sciences LLC / Brin Foundation study on Predictors of Severe COVID-19 Outcomes ( PRESCO) and PI for an investigator-initiated study, sponsored by Genentech, on combination therapy in influenza. Edwards Announced NIH and CDC Grants; advice for Bionet and IBM; and serve on data security and surveillance committees for Sanofi, X-4 Pharma, Seqirus, Moderna, Pfizer and Merck.
Damian McNamara is a personnel journalist based in Miami. It covers a wide variety of medical specialties, including infectious diseases, gastroenterology and intensive care. Follow Damian on Twitter: @MedReporter.
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