The top doctor in Chicago said she is less worried that current variants are being monitored in the US because she has a bigger concern that she is monitoring.
The US is monitoring new variants of the coronavirus that are appearing in the US, some of which have already been identified in cases in Illinois.
The main concern in the city, Arwady said, was the first reported version in the UK, which he said was detected in at least a dozen cases in the city, but more across the state.
“This is thought to be more infectious, which means it is more contagious, but the vaccine continues to be very protective against it, as we saw in this process here,” Arwady said during a Facebook Live Tuesday .
Apart from the British version, others from the South Africa and Brazil have also appeared in the USA, raising some concerns.
The Illinois Department of Public Health revealed earlier this month that the first case of the B.1.351 coronavirus variant, first identified in South Africa, had been found in the state.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the current options “spread more easily and faster than other options.”
Experts believe that current vaccines in the US offer at least some level of protection against these variants, although Arwady noted that one of the three strains poses a higher risk than others and this is the South African variant.
“It has been shown that one, especially some of the vaccines, has decreased the effectiveness against this strain,” Arwady said. “So Pfizer and Moderna continue to be protective against that strain, but not as protective as it is coming back. And then, unfortunately, the AstraZeneca vaccine, which we don’t have here yet, but it was the one they planned to use in South Africa, really wasn’t very protective. It was less than 50% protective. And so South Africa stopped its vaccination campaign because they did not want to vaccinate people with a vaccine that was not protective against that barrier. This is the kind of thing that makes me most concerned. ”
The Food and Drug Administration said Monday that modified Covid-19 vaccines against new emerging variants could be authorized without the need for lengthy clinical trials, CNBC reported.
“Preliminary reports from clinical trials evaluating COVID-19 vaccine candidates in several countries, including South Africa, have raised concerns that the vaccine’s effectiveness against variant B.1.351 may be lower than against the original virus,” the agency wrote in document, referring to the strain found in South Africa. “Thus, it is urgent to initiate the development and evaluation of vaccines against these SARSCoV-2 variants.”
However, an even greater concern is the risk for additional variants that could be more resistant to current vaccines administered in the US, Arwady said.
The CDC notes that “genetic mutations are to be expected, and some variants may spread and become predominant while others may disappear.”
“I feel confident right now that with the current variants that have emerged. We are in good shape,” Arwady said. “My sincere long-term concern has to do with the overall fairness of the vaccine. So, correctly, the US has made over 50 million doses of vaccine. they have lower incomes, they have fewer resources – COVID is there as well and it spreads, in some cases quite uncontrollably. And this is the framework in which variants that appear may appear … But if we had one to appear, you know, you could imagine I have to start over and that’s the last thing anyone wants to make him. “
So far, Arwady said there have been few cases of reinfection, especially in those who received the vaccine.
“It’s rare for people to get COVID after vaccination, but it happens occasionally and these are people we’d like to check and make sure they have a variant? Was there anything different about their COVID?” Said Arwady.
NBC 5 also asked Dr. Emily Landon, executive medical director for Infection Control and Prevention at the University of Chicago Medical Center about the risks of re-infection.
“Now most people will not get COVID-19 a second time, but some people are at risk of doing so,” Landon told the Vaccinated State jury.
According to Landon, people who experience reinfection probably won’t get it for the second time in the first 90 to 180 days after the first infection, “but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be very careful.”
Landon added that some of the new variants currently circulating in the US “are more likely to cause recurrent disease”.
“Some of the newer variants are more likely to cause disease in humans, they’re more likely to cause recurrent disease – they can happen to people who have had COVID before,” Landon told NBC 5. “So it’s very It is important that everyone receives the vaccine. It will increase your immunity, even if you have had COVID before. And this is one way you can fight and try to avoid COVID again. ”