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The Danish authorities beat the big drum. A new coronavirus mutation had been discovered in the country’s mink populations.
The mutation was more resistant to antibodies than other mutations, and could cause the corona vaccine to not work, warned Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen.
It was the Statens Serum Institut (SSI) that found the mutation called “Cluster 5” in twelve people and in five mink farms.
Fear the pandemic will start again
Denmark was the world’s largest producer of mink fur. The 15 million minks will be killed.
Long ago
Now department manager Tyra Grove Krause at SSI explains that not a single case of “group 5” infection has been detected since September.
– There are currently many different virus variants in circulation in Denmark. They may reappear and disappear again, Krause tells Jyllands-Posten.
He explains that the registered cases were discovered in August and September.
That is why Samsø is a “different municipality”
Two posibilities
In Denmark, about 15 percent of all corona samples are sent to SSI for analysis. All new virus cases were detected among these samples.
– There are two possibilities. Or it is in circulation without our having discovered it. Like I said, these are just random samples, so we can’t rule out that they may have occurred outside of the random samples. Or it may disappear, Krause tells the newspaper.
He says that the fact that no more cases of the virus have been found indicates that there hasn’t been much infection.
– The situation has changed dramatically
Nakstad follows
Deputy Health Director Espen Nakstad writes in an email to Dagbladet that Norwegian health authorities are closely monitoring the situation in Denmark.
– Larger virus mutations that spread on a large scale can, in principle, make vaccines less effective if the properties of the virus change greatly. However, we do not know whether the spread of mink in Denmark will have any significance for the effect of various vaccines, Nakstad writes.
– We also do not know if the spread of this variant will stop or if it will eventually dominate in Denmark and other countries. The National Institute of Public Health oversees this in collaboration with its Danish sister organization, the “serum institute,” he writes.
