Experts in B.1.1.529 – Do Vaccines Protect From the New Corona Variation?

According to a British expert, the currently available corona vaccines against the new variant B.1.1.529 found in South Africa are “definitely” less effective. That’s what James Naismith, a professor of structural biology at Oxford University, said on BBC4 Today’s radio program on Friday.

Whether the variation is easy to change or not cannot be determined based on the available data. “We suspect so, there is some initial data,” Nicemith continued. If easy exchange is confirmed, that variation will inevitably reach other countries, the expert continues. Reactions to the new variation are violent around the world: air traffic is banned, The Markets Act very nervous (To report)

“Very worrying”

Susan Hopkins, a scientist at Imperial College London, described the new variant as “the most disturbing we have ever seen”. The transmission rate (R value) determined so far in South Africa is 2. This is similar to the values ​​at the onset of the epidemic, Hopkins says on BBC Radio. More data is needed to come to a final estimate.

Hopkins continued that the renewed increase in epidemics in a highly polluted country, such as South Africa, was at least partly responsible for the new variants. If over-displacement proves to be true, this variant will become “a major problem” in which it may bypass the existing immune defenses of the population.

The effect of the vaccine is probably diminished

According to South African virologist Shafeer Mati, conventional vaccines only protect against the new corona variant B.1.1.529 to a certain extent. He told eNCA, a television broadcaster in Johannesburg, on Friday: “We think there is still some security.” But the effectiveness of previous vaccines is low.

The Federal Science Working Group announced that the new variant is spreading rapidly. Compared to the delta mutation of the virus currently prevalent in Switzerland, the potential to break vaccine protection is high. However, the number of cases in South Africa is still low, although B.1.1.529 prevails there against Delta.

Divergent expert opinions of the working group

It is not currently clear under what circumstances this variant spreads faster than the delta. According to the task force, for example, vaccine coverage depends.

Richard Neher, the team’s variance expert, described the new variation as significant. It differs from the original variants in many places in the spike protein and combines several known mutations from other worrying variants.

According to Nehr, these changes affect parts of the protein that bind to many antibodies. This variation is “highly variable and escapes some parts of the immune response” is imaginary. In addition, research has not yet observed any intermediate variations from B.1.1.529 and the beginning of 2020.

Posted at 11:24 this morning

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