The chief physician in Chicago said she is less concerned with the current variants being monitored in the U.S., because she has a greater concern for monitoring.
The United States is monitoring new variants of the emerging coronavirus in the United States, some of which have already been identified in cases in Illinois.
The main concern in the city, said Arwady, has been the variant reported for the first time in the UK, which she noted has been detected in at least a dozen cases in the city, but more across the state.
“This is the one that is considered most infectious, which means it is most contagious, but the vaccine remains very protective against it, as we saw in this test here,” said Arwady during a live Tuesday on Facebook.
Outside the UK variant, others originating in South Africa and Brazil also appeared in the USA, raising some concerns.
The Illinois Department of Public Health revealed earlier this month that the first case of the coronavirus variant B.1.351, first identified in South Africa, was found in the state.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, current variants “spread more easily and quickly than other variants”.
But experts believe that current vaccines in the United States provide at least some level of protection against these variants, although Arwady noted that one of the three strains poses a greater risk than the others, and that is the South African variant.
“It has been shown that that, particularly some of the vaccines, has decreased effectiveness against this strain,” said Arwady. “So Pfizer and Moderna continue to be protective against this strain, but not as protective, as if it retreated a little. And unfortunately the AstraZeneca vaccine, which we don’t have here yet, but was the one they were planning to use in South Africa, was really not very protective. It was less than 50% protection. And so, South Africa really stopped its vaccination campaign because it did not want to vaccinate people with a vaccine that was not protective against that barrier. This is the kind of thing that worries me the most. ”
The Food and Drug Administration said on Monday that Covid-19’s modified vaccines against new emerging variants could be authorized without the need for lengthy clinical trials, CNBC reported.
“Preliminary clinical trial reports evaluating COVID-19 candidate vaccines in several countries, including South Africa, have raised concerns that the vaccine’s effectiveness against variant B.1.351 may be less than against the original virus,” wrote the agency in the document, referring to the strain found in South Africa. “Therefore, there is an urgent need to initiate the development and evaluation of vaccines against these variants of SARSCoV-2.”
Still, an even greater concern is the risk of additional variants that may be more resistant to current vaccines administered in the United States, Arwady said.
The CDC notes that “genetic mutations are expected and some variants can spread and become prevalent while others decrease”.
“I am feeling confident at the moment with the current variants that have emerged. We are in good shape,” said Arwady. “My long-term concern to be honest, really has to do with the global equity of the vaccine. So, sure enough, the US has applied more than 50 million doses of vaccine. Most countries around the world haven’t even started vaccinating. and you think of countries that have less income, less resources – COVID is also there and is spreading, in some cases quite unchecked. And it is in this scenario that you can see the appearance of variants … But if we had a appearance, you know, you could imagine having to start over and that’s the last thing anyone wants to do. “
So far, Arwady said there have been few cases of reinfection, particularly in those who received the vaccine.
“It is rare for people to take COVID after vaccination, but it happens occasionally and these would be people we would like to check and make sure – did they have a variant? Was there anything different about your COVID?” Arwady said.
NBC 5 also asked Dr. Emily Landon, executive medical director of Infection Control and Prevention at the University of Chicago Medicine, about the risks of reinfection.
“Now, most people will not receive COVID-19 a second time, but some people are at risk of this happening,” Landon said during the “Vaccinated State” panel on Thursday.
According to Landon, people who have a reinfection are unlikely to have a second time in the first 90 to 180 days of their first infection, “but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be extremely careful.”
Landon added that some of the newer variants currently circulating in the U.S. “are more likely to cause recurrent illnesses”.
“Some of the newer variants are more likely to cause illness in people, are more likely to cause recurrent illness – they can happen in people who have had COVID before,” Landon told NBC 5. “And so it is really important that everyone have the vaccine. It will really increase your immunity, even if you’ve taken COVID before. And that’s a way to fight and try to avoid getting COVID again. ”