Federal health agencies are preparing for the possibility that current COVID-19 vaccines may not be effective against future coronavirus strains, Anthony Fauci
Anthony FauciOvernight Health: Biden Takes Steps to Increase Vaccine Doses Sent to States | CDC researchers find “little evidence” of major school outbreaks with caution | Eli Lilly says the combination of antibodies significantly reduces the risk of COVID-19 death. Biden takes steps to increase the number of vaccine doses sent to states The world exceeds 100M cases of coronavirus MORE said on Wednesday, but is confident that pharmaceutical companies will be able to change the formula quickly.
Speaking at an event hosted by The Hill, Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said federally authorized vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna are effective against the multiple strains that have been identified so far.
Fauci noted that monoclonal antibody treatments may not be as effective, but he is not worried about vaccines.
“We are preparing, waiting for the virus to continue to evolve and reach the point where it exceeds the threshold, our vaccine is no longer as effective as we want it to be,” said Fauci.
“We do not want it to happen. We hope it does not happen. If it does, we are already doing what is necessary to be able to address this,” Fauci added.
Fauci said he was confident the country had enough Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, especially if President Biden was able to deliver another 100 million doses from each company, a move the president announced on Tuesday.
The calculations do not include Johnson & Johnson, a company Fauci said is “literally on point” the final results of safety and efficacy tests.
There are currently three variants of coronavirus targeting health experts and officials: strain B.1.1.7, which was discovered in the United Kingdom; B.1.351, which was found in South Africa; and P.1, which became dominant in Brazil.
Fauci said the technology and science behind vaccines are easy to adapt, so if they need to be updated, it can happen quickly.
“It will make it much easier to adapt to mutants, the new offspring we see in South Africa, the UK, Brazil – the UK being already in 25 or more states,” Fauci said.
“So it’s likely that as we move forward, even though our vaccines appear to be effective against new lines, as the virus evolves, we may need to quickly develop a booster that reflects the circulating mutant so that we can use antibodies to protect, “Fauci said.
Earlier Wednesday, Fauci said during a White House briefing that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will work with National Institutes of Health to study the effectiveness of vaccines against new strains.
“We will monitor in real time the effect of the antibodies we have induced with current and future vaccines, on what impact they have on the ability to neutralize these mutants,” Fauci said.
He added that if vaccines start to become less effective, then they will start taking measures such as “making a version of the same vaccine that will, in fact, be specifically targeted against relevant mutants”.
Fauci said “things are getting a little more problematic” with the dominant strain B.1.351 in South Africa.
However, Fauci added that the vaccine is effective and “is still in the protective pillow”.
Despite positive developments, Fauci told The Hill that there is still a long way to go, and that the United States will not be able to address “some degree of normalcy” until late fall.
“We have to be prepared that this will be an evasive virus, that we should make some changes in our interventions, whatever they may be; a modernized vaccine, different types of monoclonal antibodies,” Fauci said.
“So yes, there is light at the end of the tunnel, we will start to approach a certain degree of normalcy as we enter the late autumn of this year as we enter winter. But we have to watch out. him and our pressure on him. Otherwise, he could get rid of it. ”