New data show that two Covid-119 vaccines are less effective in South Africa, which have been tested elsewhere, raising fears that the coronavirus is quickly finding ways to extract the world’s most powerful equipment to contain them.
U.S. The company Novavax reported this week that while its vaccine was about 90% effective in clinical trials conducted in Britain, the figure dropped to %%% in South Africa – and almost all of the infections the company analyzed in South Africa were B.1.351. Emerged there late last year and spread to the United States and at least 30 other countries.
Johnson and Johnson announced Friday that their new shot is 5% effective against moderate or severe illness, compared to 66% in the United States. In Latin America and 57% in South Africa.
Laboratory tests have already indicated that two vaccines authorized in the United States – made by Pfizer-Bioentech and Moderna – weaken the immune system for the South African variant.
There is now evidence in tests from people that some forms are less susceptible to certain vaccines.
“From an evolutionary biology perspective, this is perfectly expected and expected,” said Harvard epidemiologist Dr. Said Michael Meena. “But it never feels good to believe in such a scary thing.”
Researchers once estimated that it would take months or even years to develop resistance to the virus. They said rapid evolution was largely the result of an unchecked spread of the virus. More than 100 million people worldwide have been infected, and each of these infections has the potential to transform into a random virus.
Mutations that occur to benefit the virus – the body’s ability to resist natural defenses, for example – can be the basis for a cardiac variable.
An early indication that this process was ongoing was that there was a significant number of people contracting coronavirus a second time. It seems that the training their immune system received during the first infection failed to protect them from newer versions of the virus.
Scientists at Moderna and Pfizer-Bioentech were concerned that the same could happen with their vaccine-induced immunity. In laboratories, they took several versions of the virus and uncovered blood samples from a number of people who had been vaccinated.
Antibodies produced in response to the modern vaccine were so effective against the original coronavirus and B.1.1.7 strains that emerged in the United Kingdom, but were much less effective against strains in South Africa. The Pfizer vaccine was slightly less effective against the South African variant than others.
Experts warn that laboratory tests are an incomplete model for understanding the immune response in people.
Other parts of the immune system, such as T-cells, can also play a role in fighting the variable when antibodies are neutralized, said Harvard epidemiologist Mark Lipsich.
That’s why the Novav Ax trial was the first to test the interaction between variants and vaccines in the real world.
UCLA’s infectious disease researcher Dr. “Whether vaccinated people get the variant infection – that’s the real evidence of pudding,” Otto Yang said.
Novavax warned that its study in South Africa, which included about 400 patients, was too small to give accurate criteria for vaccine effectiveness.
The results of Johnson and Johnson provided further evidence that the problem is serious. Experts said the poor performance of the vaccine in South Africa – where it was tested on about 50,000 people – was almost the result of the prevalence of widespread circulation there. Researchers believe it is more contagious than other types and it has become more common in South Africa and elsewhere since the trial began in September.
The researchers said the variants would also be blamed for the subparture of Johnson and Johnson vaccines shown in Latin America – where more than 17,000 people were tested in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru.
The greatest concern change is on the spike protein on the surface of the virus, as the current crop of vaccines trains the immune system to recognize that protein. There is a greater chance that the virus will be detected and slipped.
Meena likened the process to finding the culprit by simply remembering the appearance of her nose and mouth. Initially, this may prove to be enough. But if the offender gets a nose job, you want yourself to learn about the composition of his eyes, ears and hair as well.
“To address this issue we need a more diverse arsenal of vaccines using different routes,” Meena said.
Meanwhile, Moderna has announced efforts to develop a booster system to add to its existing two-shot system to curb the South African type. The company also plans to test whether a third shot of the original formula could help with other stressors.
Byantech, the company that worked with Pfizer on its shots, is also considering developing an adjusted vaccine.
The United States on Thursday recorded its first known cases of the South African variety among two people in South Carolina. The UK strain, which is thought to be more contagious, also circulates here.
In a briefing to reporters on Friday, the Director of National Leukemia and Infectious Diseases, Dr. Anthony Fauci said the U.S. The confirmation that there are more transmissible strains in is a “wake-up call” which indicates the need for rapid vaccination. Americans.
“Vaccinating as many people as we can, vaccinating as fast as possible,” is the key to slowing down the virus’s ability to mutate, he said. “Viruses can’t change if they can’t copy.”
The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. According to Rochelle Valensky, U.S. It vaccines an average of 1.5 million people every day.
Experts say it is too slow, as it is not known what kind of advanced types will be available until the vaccination campaign reaches a crucial mass.
They emphasize that vaccination should be accompanied by protective tactics such as masking and social distance as long as the number of cases is negligible.
Susan Butler-Wu, director of clinical microbiology at LAC + USC Medical Center, said, “If you think you’re just sending your vaccine out of this, it’s going to be like a wake-a-mole.”
An effective vaccination campaign must eventually spread worldwide. If impressive strains come next year, for example, Brazil, a fully vaccinated America could also be at risk.
“You can vaccinate hell outside of America, but unless everyone is safe, we’re all in danger,” Meena said. ”
Fauqi called for a new viral change to increase the capacity of the government. Attempts at a genetic sequence have split, relying on scholars and other groups to voluntarily upload their findings and pass them around. In the United States, only 1% of the millions of positive samples collected during routine testing for coronavirus, respectively.
“We’re flashing a flashlight around in the dark,” said Rimon of UCLA’s epidemiologist An, oin. “All we need to do is flip over the lights.”
