Dr. Anthony Fauci warned on Sunday that “more harmful” strains of COVID-19 have emerged in South Africa and Brazil.
The director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said he is examining “two very carefully” the two new mutant variants, in addition to another highly contagious one that was first detected in the UK.
“People need to realize that there is more than one mutant strain”, Fauci told NBC anchor Chuck Todd on “Meet the Press”.
“There is one in the UK that is essentially dominated … There is another more sinister one that is in South Africa and Brazil.”
Fauci said he does not want “people to panic”, but they are taking the new varieties “very seriously” and studying them to fully understand the threat they pose.
“The British made it very clear that [the strain detected there is] more contagious, ”said Fauci.
“They say it is no longer virulent. But, you know, we have to be careful because the more cases you have, even if on a one-to-one basis you’re not more virulent, which means it doesn’t make you sicker or more likely to die, just for numbers, the more cases you have, the more hospitalizations you will have. “
He said they are still determining whether these mutations will be resistant to vaccines on the market.
“What we really want to watch carefully is whether this mutation lessens the impact of the vaccine?” he said. “And if that happens, we will have to make some changes … We are analyzing this very carefully.”