What health experts have revealed about the new “Corona” strain …



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What health experts have revealed about the strain

Many medical experts have downplayed fears associated with the discovery of a new strain of the emerging “Corona” virus in Britain, saying that current vaccines for “Covid 19” will be effective in fighting the infection.

The comments came after the UK said on Saturday that it had identified a new mutation of the virus that could spread more rapidly than previous strains, and many countries around the world, including Italy, Germany and Canada, had banned flights from the UK following reports of the new strain.

Finn Gupta, assistant professor at the University of Washington Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, said he is confident that current vaccines will protect humans from different “Covid” strains, according to a “CNBC” report.

Gupta added: “There is a strong belief here that the vaccine, which is present today, will be effective in preventing the infection of this new strain in England, in addition to the old strain that we have been dealing with for months.”

“This is because, at the genetic level, the new strain is likely to be very similar to the previous strains. The vaccines elicit a really strong response in the body in terms of producing antibodies. The effectiveness of these vaccines in producing antibodies that they can actually attack and kill the virus is exceptional. These “minor changes” at the genetic level are expected to affect the performance of vaccines in the short term, “according to Gupta.

The United Kingdom was the first country in the world to adopt the “Pfizer-Bio-n-Tech” vaccine for use in emergency situations, followed by the United States, Canada and several other countries, which is a vaccine that, according to the two companies, has an efficiency of about 95%.

However, future versions of the vaccine may need to take into account new viral strains, in the same way that flu vaccines are updated, Gupta said.

He added: “I think this may affect our future work, but it will not affect in the short term. It will not affect the effectiveness of current vaccines in ending the epidemic.”

For his part, Dr. Vivek Murthy, who was appointed by President-elect Joe Biden to be next year’s surgeon in the United States, made similar comments on NBC Sunday.

He said: “There is no reason to believe that the vaccines that have been developed will not be effective against the ‘new UK strain’. Furthermore, there is no evidence that the new strain is more lethal.”

And Murthy, who served as a surgeon general during the era of President Barack Obama, added: “The bottom line is that if you are at home and you hear this news, this does not change what we are doing in terms of precautions as individuals to reduce the spread. from this virus, masks, keep your physical distance and wash your hands. These are the pillars to avoid the transmission of Covid “.

Danny Altman, professor of immunology at Imperial College London, echoed the same meaning in his speech, saying: “It worries me, because from the beginning, we have seen mutations happening all over the world, several thousand of them, but this mutation it is completely different from others, and explains the inability to control the spread of the disease in London and the south-east of England. “

However, Altman said, “Given the variety of ‘neutralizing antibodies’ that flagship vaccines create, the new strain is unlikely to be resistant to vaccination.

Andrew Friedman, an infectious disease researcher at Cardiff University, said the new strain would likely be combated with the capabilities of existing vaccines.

He added: “It is very likely, since the vaccine provides immunity to different regions of the protein, not just the region where the mutations are, it is very likely that the vaccine will work against this.”

However, he concluded his speech by saying, “But of course there could be more mutations that could make vaccines less effective in the future.”



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