Experts warn of the variant identified in New York: "It is not known at this time what the effectiveness of the vaccine against it is" •
The Ministry of Health announced yesterday (Tuesday) that three family members who did not leave the country were identified as carriers of the New York corona mutation.
This information caused concern among the experts and the demand of officials in the ministry to increase the control of those entering Israel in order to prevent the continued entry of this mutation into the country.
We turned to experts to understand why this variant is so worrying and what needs to be done to deal with it.
Senior Health Ministry official: The South African variant has several mutations // Archive photo: Knesset channel
Prof. Amos Pent, a virologist in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the Hebrew University, explains that our information about the new mutations is very small and in its infancy.
"First, the New York pattern was first identified about a month ago and is spreading among the city's public, but it is not yet the entire population of the city. However, it is already clear that there are changes in this pattern in the peg protein, with which the virus penetrates cells in the human body.
"In any case, the question is whether Pfizer's vaccine is effective against this program, but it is not yet known. We know, for example, that Pfizer's vaccine is good against the British program, which is highly contagious and a little less good against the South African program. "A California lizard has also been discovered since then and we are expected to discover lots of versions of the corona in the coming months. This is because they have now paved the entire genome of the corona and are conducting accurate surveys around the world around the corona, revealing more and more surprises."
"We will also start discovering plans in Israel"
"I can only say that the two strongest ointments discovered so far, the British and the South African, have not been more lethal compared to the primary corona virus - meaning perhaps the British are more contagious and the South African more elusive, but they are no more dangerous than the original," adds Prof Pent.
"By the way, in Israel, too, we have started sequencing the genomes of all the subjects in the last month, so in Israel, too, we will start discovering all kinds of virus infections. Because of this, of course, there is a very great interest in vaccinating the entire population.
"If we reach a good number of vaccinators, it will be more difficult for the virus to spread and change and produce a resistant vaccine. On the other hand, if only 80% of Israelis are vaccinated then 20% will still be at increased risk of infection. It may develop into a vaccine-resistant vaccine." This is the fear all over the world and this is the fear in the country - and that is the reason for the urge to call people to get vaccinated.
"Anyway," he clarified, "as we currently do not know enough about the implants and do not know if Pfizer's vaccine is effective against all of them. We also do not know if we will need to get vaccinated every six months or if the amount of antibodies left in the body will be enough to fight the virus. "There's still a lot to explore."
"The fear - a vaccine-resistant virus"
Prof. Shai Arkin of the Hebrew University, a specialist in biochemistry, explains that the focus on each new program stems from its potential to overcome the vaccine, but he notes that the corona changes less quickly from the flu virus - so the scientific world has a little more time to deal with it.
"Most of the discussion regarding the new corona virus plans is taking place because we do not know how good the vaccine we have today is against them," said Prof. Arkin, continuing Prof. Pent's remarks.
"So whenever there is a new virus the scientific world is alarmed. However when looking at the spectrum of viruses the corona virus I can say that it is less violent than the flu virus in terms of its ability to change and mutate.
"Influenza is a virus that we have to develop a new vaccine against every year because of its rapid changes. Compared to influenza, chickenpox has one vaccine in childhood. The corona is in the middle - closer to the flu, ie the ability of the virus to change is quite good. As fast as the flu, I think we currently have a relatively good defense against the new mutations.
"Of course, we are all walking in the fog and can no longer say that it is a new disease and as time goes on we will know more, so also focus on each new program to know what its impact is and what its changes are."
However, according to Prof. Arkin, "at least for now, the corona seems to be a little slower than the flu - and that gives us some breathing space."
Does the mutation reduce the effectiveness of the vaccine?
Prof. Eli Somekh, an expert in the treatment and counseling of infectious and immunological diseases in children and a researcher in vaccines and viral infections in children, emphasizes that the fear of the New York program is because of its resemblance to the South African mutation.
"There are three known mutations in the world and they are already ancient. The British mutation, which is highly contagious and also violent, is more, but against which the vaccine works," he stated.
"We have the South African mutation, whose problem is that it is partially resistant to the vaccine - meaning it is less affected by it, and there is the Brazilian mutation that is very common in the Amazon around the city of Manaus. These are three relatively old mutations that have been studied.
"In Israel we have nothing to do with the Brazilian mutation, but only with the British mutation and the South African mutation. In relation to the New York mutation - it started in a very crowded neighborhood in the Washington Heights neighborhood. This plan was first discovered in November or October, and what happened is that it has recently jumped. To such that a quarter of New York patients sequencing their virus are carriers of this mutation.
Dr. Elrai-Price: "We will not reach herd immunity - even if the entire population that can be vaccinated" // Photo Archive: Knesset Channel
"What is troubling about it is the similarity in some changes in the field of peg protein, which penetrates the human body and damages cells. There are similarities between the changes in this diet and the South African mutation, which in the laboratory showed researchers that it reduces the effectiveness of the vaccine. It turns out that she is resistant to the vaccine or knows better how to avoid it.
According to Prof. Somekh, "The reason is that all our vaccines are not against the whole corona but rather against the peg protein, with which it penetrates cells in the human body. It is of course important to say that we just do not know enough about this mutation as we do not know enough about the South African mutation. We need to sit down and research it.We might have known more if there had been a broad vaccination campaign in New York City - and then we would have seen how the vaccine copes with this program.But the US vaccination campaign is faltering and there is simply no information.
"Israel will now have to, together with other laboratories around the world, sequence this virus and test in the laboratory how the vaccine works on the reproductive capacity of this program. I assume we will soon start receiving clinical publications on this subject as well."
