Fauci called these findings “worrying” in an interview on Monday NBC’s “Today” Program. “The data has not been officially released, but taking a look at the preliminary data that UK scientists have analyzed, I am quite convinced that there is a degree of increase in the severity of the actual infection, that we really have to keep an eye out,” he.
The CDC first warned last month that travelers could bring the newly identified UK coronavirus variant to the US, and the agency reported earlier this month that the variant could become the dominant strain of the disease in the United States already. March.
Despite the latest analysis of the UK variant, Fauci said on Monday that US officials were “more concerned” about a separate strain of coronavirus in South Africa because of its resistance to antibodies as a form of treatment.
“When you do test tube studies, in vitro studies, it shows that the capacity of the monoclonal antibodies that have been used for therapy … [are] really impaired in the presence of these specific variants, ”said Fauci.
“In other words, these monoclonal antibodies don’t work as well as the treatment,” he continued. “There is a very small and modest decrease in the effectiveness of a vaccine against it. But there is enough protection with the vaccines that we have that we still consider effective against the UK strain and the South African strain. ”
Fauci emphasized that American officials are taking the new strains of coronavirus seriously and warned that the science around the variations “will continue to evolve”. But he also said that he did not want Americans to “think, at this point, that vaccines are not effective against them. They are.”
Still, “we really need to be sure to start – and we have already done so – prepare, if necessary, to update vaccines,” said Fauci. “We are already taking steps in that direction, even though the vaccines we have now work.”
Indeed, Fauci’s statements on Monday came when Moderna – the American pharmaceutical company whose coronavirus vaccine was authorized by the Food and Drug Administration last month – announced that it would develop a booster injection to improve the vaccine’s effectiveness against variations emerging from the coronavirus.
And later on Monday, Biden is due to announce another round of coronavirus-related travel restrictions, including a new ban for most non-US citizens traveling from South Africa and a ban reinstated on most foreign travelers from Brazil. , UK and dozens of European countries.
Fauci described Biden’s actions as “very prudent”, adding: “We are really taking the potential for the influx of these types of mutants into the country very seriously.”