The Bristol coronavirus variant was first detected in the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Wednesday.
Research on the variant shows that it has the same composition as the Kent strain in the UK, but with an additional mutation in the peak protein E484K.
Public Health England (PHE) considered the Bristol variant to be one of four variants of concern in the UK due to its potential impact on Covid-19 vaccines.
“E484K is currently the mutation with the most evidence of causing antigenic change,” said PHE in a statement last week. “Several independent studies showing the impact of different antigenic variants have concluded that E484K is among the single mutations with the greatest impact.”
Scientists tested Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine against the E484K and N501Y mutations, both found in variants in the United Kingdom and South Africa. The study found that the vaccine still seemed to work, but offered a little less effectiveness against the virus.
No mutation has been proven so far to make coronavirus vaccines ineffective, but they have caused concern among healthcare professionals about how quickly the virus turns. Health officials have been pushing for rapid vaccinations from the public to prevent the emergence of a mutation that could severely impact the vaccine.
Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the director of the CDC, warned of the impact of these variants during a White House press conference on coronavirus on Wednesday.
These variants could hinder progress, said Walensky, at a time when the number of cases and hospitalizations in the United States decreased by about 20 percent over a seven-day continuous average last week.
The first variant that caused concern in the UK was B.1.1.7, which has now been detected in 41 states and the District of Columbia. Due to the suspected high transmissibility of the variant, experts warned that it could become the country’s main mutation by March.
Now, the E484K mutation has also been detected in the USA.
In a separate report released by the CDC on Wednesday, Zambian researchers explained the rapid increase in cases of Covid-19 in Zambia and how it contributed to variant B.1.351, first detected in South Africa.
“The spread of variant B.1.351 is a public health concern because of the potential for greater transmissibility and, therefore, increased cases, hospitalizations and deaths,” wrote the researchers.
Variant B.1.351 has also been detected in several states and has characteristics that concern scientists as to its potential impact on vaccine effectiveness.