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A highly communicable coronavirus variant first identified in South Africa was reported Thursday in the United States, hours before Maryland biotech company Novavax announced that its coronavirus vaccine was highly effective in preventing COVID – 19, except against that variant .
The information provided by the vaccine manufacturer Novavax on an initial analysis conducted in Great Britain found that the vaccine had an efficacy rate of nearly 80% in the Great Britain variant, but in a small assay done with the South African variant of coronavirus , the effectiveness rate dropped to just under 50%.
The data surprised and disappointed scientists, who said that is the latest sign that new variants of coronavirus ca Large numbers of mutations represent a challenge for vaccine manufacturers and complicate the battle to defeat the pandemic.
The company’s results provide the first glimpse of how any coronavirus vaccine protects against a mutated version of the virus, which quickly became dominant in the UK, but against none other than was first detected in South Africa and then spread around the world, notes The Washington Post.
South Carolina virus variant detected in South Carolina
This could be a problem for the United States, where hours before reported its first known cases of the contagious variant of the South African coronavirus in two unrelated individuals in South Carolina.
On Thursday, South Carolina health officials revealed the first two cases related to var iante B. 1. 351, and the fact that patients have not traveled nor is there a connection among them, suggests that the South African variant of the coronavirus is spreading in the community after an undetected introduction.
Vaccines and variants of coronavirus
Novavax information is produced a few days after Moderna and Pfizer said their vaccines were also less effective against the same variant, as reported by The New York Times.
The potentially adverse news for all coronavirus vaccines, which are currently being restarted to combat the variant identified in South Africa, occurred when public health officials received confirmation of what many suspected: the top three coronavirus “variants of concern” identified by international scientific teams In recent weeks, because they are more contagious and more lethal, they are present in the United States.
Situation in the United States
The appearance of several highly contagious variants has complicated efforts to control the pandemic in the world, which has led world leaders to shut down travel to places like Britain and South Africa, even as the variants already seem to have circled the globe.
In the United States, researchers warned that the variant first identified in Britain, which is believed to be more infectious, could become the dominant form of the virus in this country in March.
The United States lags far behind other countries in testing such variants, and the South African variant has already been found in some 30 countries.
How they will have to change ar vaccines
It is very possible that several vaccines against coronavirus variants will need to be administered, and offer new vaccines at regular intervals, similar to what happens with the flu vaccine.
Experts have also said there is reason for optimism, noting that vaccines are still effective .
The best way to combat the most contagious and deadly new variants of coronavirus is to continue vaccination and other public health measures, which will slow down the virus’s ability to infect new people and continue to mutate even more.
