Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, has recently said that new data on COVID vaccines should serve as a “wake-up call” for all of us in order to stop the spread of the virus, depriving it of opportunities to evolve its defenses.
Dr. Fauci, who is the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), said Friday, “The virus will continue to mutate and will mutate for its own selective advantage.”
The continued transmission of SARS-CoV-2 “gives the virus the chance to adapt to the forces, in this case, the immune response, that’s trying to get rid of it,” Dr. Fauci added. “That’s where you get mutations.”
Meanwhile, US health officials have been working to boost the supply of COVID vaccines.
The vaccines developed by Johnson & Johnson and Novavax are in their late-stage trials. And according to new data, they provide further evidence that they may not protect you against emerging variants, Dr. Fauci said.
The NIAID director said, “Mutations that lead to different lineage do have clinical consequences,” adding that the emerging vaccines appear to confer broad protection.
“Even though the long-range effect in the sense of severe disease is still handled reasonably well by the vaccines, this is a wake-up call to all of us,” he said.
Researchers, executives, and public health officials must work together to continue developing vaccines that can beat the new emerging strains of the virus, Dr. Fauci explained.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently reported the first US-documented cases of the B.1.351 variant – the strain first found in South Africa – in South Carolina.
Earlier this week, US health officials reported the first confirmed case of another new strain of the virus – first detected in Brazil – in Minnesota.
Dr. Fauci said, “The CDC’s stepped-up “genomic surveillance” will help keep clinicians and researchers aware of how SARS-CoV-2 is changing.”
CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said the cases of the South African-variant were reported in different parts of the state, explaining that they are not epidemiologically linked. She said, the people infected with the new variant of the virus “did not have any travel history.”
Dr. Fauci and Dr. Walensky said people should continue wearing masks and practicing social distancing. They also urged people to get COVID vaccines as they become available.
“Continued community spread of the virus allows this global health threat to keep replicating, and thus increases its chances to thwart medical interventions,” Dr. Fauci said.
“The virus has a playing field, as it were, to mutate,” he added. “If you stop that and stop the replication, the viruses cannot mutate if they don’t replicate.” The article originally appeared on Medscape Medical News.
