EXPLAINER: Are new coronavirus strains cause for concern?
4 years ago

EXPLAINER: Are new coronavirus strains cause for concern?

Associated Press  

Reports from Britain and South Africa of new coronavirus strains that seem to sp Viruses naturally evolve as they move through the population, some more than others. Patrick Vallance, the British government’s chief scientific adviser, said that the strain “moves fast and is becoming the dominant variant,” causing over 60% of infections in London by December. Probably not, former U.S. Food and Drug Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” “Unlikely,” Gupta agreed. President-elect Joe Biden’s surgeon general nominee, Vivek Murthy, said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that there’s “no reason to believe that the vaccines that have been developed will not be effective against this virus as well.” Vaccines produce wide-ranging responses by the immune system beyond just those to the spike protein, several experts noted. The possibility that new strains will be resistant to existing vaccines are low, but not “inexistent,” Dr. Moncef Slaoui, the chief science adviser for the U.S. government’s vaccine distribution effort, said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “Up to now, I don’t think there has been a single variant that would be resistant,” he said.

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