“Based on the data to date, we expect the protection with the Moderna vaccine to be immune to the variables described in the UK recently; we will be conducting further tests in the coming weeks to intends to prove this, “according to a Moderna statement.
Pfizer said it was now “generating data” on how well blood samples from vaccinated people could “neutralize the new strain from the UK.”
The novel coronavirus has gone through before, and both companies say they have found that their vaccines have worked against other variants of the virus.
US Chief Surgeon Jerome Adams said the UK variable does not “change what we need to do” in terms of living under protection.
“What is important for people to understand is because this does not change what we have to do,” he said. “We have to wear masks, wash our hands, look at our distances and wait for gatherings, and we need to get vaccinated, vaccinated when they become available to us. “
Volatile or not, the U.S. has failed to limit Covid-19 release as it stands. The winter solstice on Monday marked the darkest day of the year and provided a quick metaphor for this time of pandemic. The U.S. reported about 191,000 new Covid-19 cases and 1,700 new deaths Monday as more than 115,000 people were hospitalized with the virus, the highest rate.
But just as the days get longer and spring renewals are approaching, there is also a promise of widespread vaccinations. More than 614,000 doses of the vaccine have been given, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and tens of millions more are expected in the coming months.
Dr. Fauci says there seems to be a difference in the US
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institutes of Allergies and Infectious Diseases, said Monday that the UK coronavirus strain already appears to be in the US.
“You have to make that assumption,” Fauci told Judy Woodruff at PBS Newshour on Monday.
“When you see something that is very common in a place like the UK, there are also mutations that we see in South Africa, and with the travel around the world, there would be no I wonder if he ‘s already here. ”
“It’s certainly not the most common yet, as he seems to have accepted that nature is common in the UK, but we’re going to look for it right now, and I’m sure sooner or later we will run into it and find it, “he said.
Movements in the virus are not out of the ordinary, and most have no obvious effect, Fauci said. Researchers are still trying to determine if the RA variant is more mobile, but Fauci said it does not appear to have any effect on the virus’s mortality.
Fauci said he believes a travel ban in the UK is premature as there is not enough evidence to provide it. He said he would prefer to consider the possibility of mandatory testing of UK travelers.
Some researchers studying the genome of the UK variable told CNN that they are concerned that mutations of this mutation could reduce the effectiveness of the vaccine.
“You’d think there would be some impact on vaccine effectiveness, which wouldn’t be great, but I don’t think it would break the vaccine,” said Trevor Bedford, associate professor in Fred’s vaccine and infectious cancer department. Hutchinson Research Center.
Other experts, however, have been skeptical about any effect on the vaccines.
“It doesn’t make people sicker and it doesn’t seem to have any effect on the protective nature of the vaccine we’re currently using,” Fauci said.
Moncef Slaoui, chief scientific adviser for Operation Warp Speed, said at a press conference on Monday that there is no “hard evidence” that the variant is more flexible.
“There is clear evidence that there is more of it in the population,” he said. “Whether it is due to a higher ability to transmit or is it because we are now able to order all the time and see the virus, and when which was spawning the population of the south-east of the UK, we were not, or were not, looking for this particular variant. “
More than 600,000 vaccines administered
In just over a week since U.S. vaccinations began, more than 4.6 vaccine doses were delivered and about 614,000 doses were given, according to the CDC.
The first round of doses was given to those in assisted living facilities, federal officials and health care workers like Drs. Joseph Varon.
“This is like gold,” Dr. Joseph Varon told CNN Monday, as he kept a box of doses. “I won’t cry, but I came very close … You know how many lives you can save with this?”
The first doses of Moderna vaccine were sent to more than 3,500 sites across the U.S., compared to more than 600 sites for Pfizer. In total, 7.9 million doses from Moderna and Pfizer will be released this week in the US, Operation Warp Speed’s Gen. Gustave Perna said Monday.
One of the people circulating the vaccine is Todd Elble, the driver of a UPS tractor trailer whose father died from Covid-19.
CNN’s Jeremy Diamond, Andrea Diaz, Shelby Lin Erdman and Naomi Thomas contributed to this report.