Dr. Anthony Fauci has minimized the dangers of coronavirus variants, even as health officials prepare for the possibility that these variants will become the dominant strain in the United States.
Several new strains of the coronavirus have emerged in recent months, with the South African variant the most notable among them.
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The British variant, B.1.1.7, showed greater transmissibility, but the South African variant was shown to reduce the effectiveness of current vaccines.
“Fortunately, this is not dominant in this country,” Fauci told Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace. “However, the fact is that it does not protect, vaccines do not protect as well against the acquisition of clinically apparent disease with the South African.”
Fauci said that some models project that the British variant will be dominant by the end of March, but current vaccines are still just as effective against that particular variant.
“If, in fact, this becomes more dominant, we may have to obtain a version of the vaccine that is directed against the South African isolate,” added Fauci. “And, in fact, we are already doing preliminary and initial experiments to develop this variant of the vaccine to deal with this specific mutation.”
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The new variants pose a potential challenge as the debate over the reopening of schools continues. The CDC continues to say that teachers must be a priority to receive vaccines, but that teachers do not need to be vaccinated to return to face-to-face education.
“We are doing what we can to protect the safety of students and teachers, but it is not a requirement,” said Fauci on the subject.
One of the main targets will be to vaccinate high school students, with vaccines approved for Americans aged 16 and over. Almost half of the population of high school students is potentially as vulnerable to infection as adults.
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Fauci said the plan is for high school students to receive the vaccine later this year so they can resume face-to-face education.
“This is likely to happen in the fall,” said Fauci.