A scientist studying the new coronavirus variant identified in South Africa tried to allay concerns that existing COVID-19 vaccines would become totally ineffective by the variant known as 501.V2.
At least 20 mutations have been identified in the 501.V2 variant, including mutations in the much-studied spike protein that researchers determined the virus uses to infect human cells, according to Reuters.
While these mutations “may have an effect,” said Richard Lessells, an infectious disease specialist at the KwaZulu-Natal Innovation and Sequencing Platform, who helped identify the variant in South Africa, “it is very unlikely that they will completely negate the effect. . of vaccines. “
He noted that vaccines are thought to “induce a very broad immune response”, meaning that such an immune response “may target different parts of the peak protein, not just one,” he told Reuters.
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The variant has already been described as more infectious than the COVID-19 virus identified at the beginning of the pandemic. In South Africa, it quickly became dominant in the country’s coastal areas.
In a separate interview with the Associated Press, Lessells said the variant is expected to quickly become dominant in the interior of Johannesburg, the country’s largest city, and in the neighboring province of Gauteng.
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Lessells and other South African scientists are now testing whether vaccines will work against the variant, as well as whether immunity prior to other variants would protect against it.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.