WASHINGTON – The Covid-19 fast snoring known as B.1.1.7 now announced in the UK could account for 25% to 30% of U.S. cases, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in evidence prepared for Wednesday’s House subcommittee.
The U.S. has so far identified about 4,500 cases of the B.1.1.7. Strain, Rochelle Walensky, director of the CDC, said in her comments to the House Energy and Commerce Committee subcommittee on scrutiny and scrutiny.
But with authorities testing only about 4% of about 400,000 Covid-19 cases per week in this country, “the current approach suggests that the B.1.1.7 variant may now be making up 25% to 30% of US viruses. , ”Said Dr. Walensky.
The other variants of Covid-19, first seen in South Africa and Brazil, were identified in the U.S., but only with about 100 cases in total, Dr. Walensky said.
In her prepared remarks, Dr Walensky said that collaboration between the CDC and Emory University has produced data suggesting that the Moderna Inc.
vaccines produce antibodies that are able to neutralize the UK variant, “but have reduced neutralization against version B.1.351,” as South African snoring is known.
It is not yet known what effect routine vaccines will have against the South African mutation, she said.
Peter Marks, the Food and Drug Administration’s most senior vaccination officer, said in his prepared remarks that it is not known “how long the vaccines will protect, and we are not sure that the vaccines prevent it. spread [Covid-19] from person to person. ”
He outlined how the organization monitors safety among U.S. vaccine recipients by, among other measures, analyzing data from millions of people in big healthcare data systems to detect safety signs.
Dr Marks’ prepared evidence did not directly address the small numbers of blood clots in European recipients of the AstraZeneca PLC vaccine, which led to several European countries to discontinue the use of that vaccine. The company has said it has not seen evidence linking the cases to its vaccine. The company has not yet applied for FDA approval, but is expected to do so soon.
Dr. Marks did not address the question of how well the U.S.-authorized vaccines are doing to prevent cases of the new Covid-19 strains.
The third witness scheduled for the House sub-committee hearing, Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health, said in evidence “so far, scientific evidence shows that Covid-19 vaccines” authorized in the US “remains effective against these variables. He said the group was continuing to investigate this issue.
Write to Thomas M. Burton at [email protected]
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