{"id":110905,"date":"2021-01-22T18:15:13","date_gmt":"2021-01-23T01:15:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=110905"},"modified":"2021-01-22T18:15:13","modified_gmt":"2021-01-23T01:15:13","slug":"covid-19-variant-in-south-africa-exposes-ineffectiveness-of-covid-vaccines-as-reported-by-julia-belluz-and-umair-irfan-for-microsoft-news-and-reproduced","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/01\/22\/covid-19-variant-in-south-africa-exposes-ineffectiveness-of-covid-vaccines-as-reported-by-julia-belluz-and-umair-irfan-for-microsoft-news-and-reproduced\/","title":{"rendered":"COVID 19 Variant in South Africa Exposes Ineffectiveness of COVID Vaccines? As reported by Julia Belluz and Umair Irfan for Microsoft News and reproduced"},"content":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0The Sri Lanka Study Circle\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.msn.com\/en-xl\/northamerica\/top-stories\/why-scientists-are-more-worried-about-the-covid-19-variant-discovered-in-south-africa\/ar-BB1d02fQ?ocid=msedgdhp<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why scientists are more worried about the Covid-19 variant\ndiscovered in South Africa<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On January 15, US public health officials warned that a more\ncontagious variant of the coronavirus that causes Covid-19 could dominate\ninfections in the United States by March. That grim warning referred to\nB.1.1.7, a variant that was first identified in the United Kingdom. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But now, one week later, scientists are increasingly concerned\nabout another variant that emerged in South Africa. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s evidence from several small, and not-yet-peer-reviewed,\nstudies that mutations in the South Africa variant \u2014 known as 501Y.V2 and\nalready present in at least 23 countries \u2014 may have a higher risk of Covid-19\nreinfection in people who\u2019ve already been sick and still should have some\nimmunity to the disease. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

a close up of a hand: The major concern is that Covid-19 mutations\ncould undercut the effectiveness of the vaccines\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"a<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

.\u00a9 Emmanuel Dunand\/AFP via Getty Images The major concern is\nthat Covid-19 mutations could undercut the effectiveness of the vaccines. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scientists haven\u2019t confirmed that this variant is more contagious,\nthough evidence is pointing in this direction. They\u2019re also concerned that\n501Y.V2 could have implications for treatments for Covid-19. Regeneron, a\ncompany that has developed a cocktail of two monoclonal antibodies as a therapy\nfor patients with the illness, reported that 501Y.V2 may be able to evade one\nof the antibodies in its mix. The drug is still effective, but subsequent\nmutations could render it less so. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But perhaps most alarming is the prospect that the mutations in\nthe variant could limit the effectiveness of existing vaccines, one of the best\ntools we have for controlling the pandemic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The results of these recent studies are a serious indication we\nhave to look hard at how well vaccines might work,\u201d Penny Moore, a virologist\nat the National Institute for Communicable Diseases in South Africa, told Vox.\nTaken together, they highlight the dangers of letting Covid-19 spread unchecked\nand also portend the challenges that lie ahead as the virus continues to\nevolve. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What the 501Y.V2 coronavirus variant might mean for Covid-19\nvaccines <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moore is the lead author of a new study on 501Y.V2, out Tuesday as\na preprint on BioRxiv. She and her team in South Africa took blood plasma\nsamples from 44 people who had been infected with the coronavirus during the\ncountry\u2019s first wave of infections last summer and then checked how their\nexisting antibodies responded to 501Y.V2 as well as older variants. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The researchers sorted the plasma samples into categories \u2014 high\nand low antibody concentrations. Though antibodies can wane after infection,\nthat doesn\u2019t necessarily mean that protection fades completely. Another recent\nstudy showed that immunity stemming from infection lasts at least five months\nin most people, so the antibodies in those who\u2019ve had the virus should still\nshield against earlier versions of the virus if someone is infected\nagain. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 21 cases \u2014 nearly half \u2014 the existing antibodies were powerless\nagainst the new variant when exposed in test tubes. This was especially true\nfor plasma from people who had a mild previous infection, and lower levels of\nantibodies, to begin with. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The findings suggest immunity from previous versions of the virus\nmight not help individuals fend off the new variant if they\u2019re exposed,\nparticularly if their prior case was mild or symptom-free. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Fred Hutch Cancer Research Center scientist Trevor Bedford,\nwho was not involved in the research, the study also came as a possible warning\nsign about the vaccines. As early as autumn this year, manufacturers may need\nto begin reformulating their shots to respond to the changes in the virus\u2019s\ngenetic code, he wrote on Twitter: <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0The Sri Lanka Study Circle\u00a0 https:\/\/www.msn.com\/en-xl\/northamerica\/top-stories\/why-scientists-are-more-worried-about-the-covid-19-variant-discovered-in-south-africa\/ar-BB1d02fQ?ocid=msedgdhp Why scientists are more worried about the Covid-19 variant discovered in South Africa  On January 15, US public health officials warned that a more contagious variant of the coronavirus that causes Covid-19 could dominate infections in the United States by March. That grim warning referred to B.1.1.7, a variant […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[162],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-110905","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sri-lanka-study-circle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110905","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110905"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110905\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}