New variant of coronavirus would have a higher transmissibility 28:33
(CNN) -
Michael Worobey, a biologist at the University of Arizona, has seen more than 100,000 different strains of the virus that causes Covid-19.
But when he saw the new strain from the UK, he noticed something different.
"This is the first variant I've seen during the entire pandemic where I stepped back and said, 'Wow,'" he recalls.
Health officials have downplayed the possibility that coronavirus vaccines will not work against the UK strain.
But Worobey and other scientists believe it is a possibility, and it is only a possibility, that this new variant could, to a small extent, outsmart vaccines.
"This is the first variant I've seen where I think there is this pressing question," said Worobey, head of the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Arizona.
Trevor Bedford, associate professor in the division of vaccines and infectious diseases at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, is also closely following the UK variant.
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Pfizer and Moderna test their vaccines against a new variant 0:38
The question about the vaccine and the new mutation of the virus
Large clinical trials have shown that the Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna vaccines are approximately 95% effective against the new coronavirus.
However, those tests were conducted before the UK variant began its explosive growth.
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Bedford said he doesn't think the vaccine is useless against the new UK strain, but that it could reduce its effectiveness somewhat.
"It could decrease the effectiveness of the vaccine from 95% to something like 80% or 85%," he said.
"It would be a modest effect, not a dramatic one."
Health officials have said there is no reason to think the vaccine will not work against the new variant.
"[There is] no evidence to suggest, or reason to believe, that it would circumvent our vaccines that we have right now," Undersecretary of Health Admiral Dr. Brett Giroir said Monday.
"I think it is highly unlikely that this particular variant in the UK has escaped the immunity of the vaccine," Moncef Slaoui, head of Operation Warp Speed, said on Sunday.
But some scientists point out that this mutation is not like others that have preceded it.
"We shouldn't immediately come to the conclusion (as many have) that it is not a concern," Kristian Andersen, a professor in the Department of Immunology and Microbiology at Scripps Research Andersen, wrote to CNN.
"We just don't know right now, but we should know sooner."
Pfizer and Moderna are testing their vaccines against the UK variant of the coronavirus
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Bette Korber, a scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory, has also been examining the variant.
"The mutations are really worrisome, they ALL need to be tested," Bette Korber, a scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory, wrote to CNN when asked if the new mutation was a concern for the vaccine.
The UK variant has an unusually large number of mutations - 14 changes and 3 deletions in its genetic code that affect the building blocks of its proteins, according to the CDC.
"This virus has like 17 unique mutations that have not been seen anywhere else, and that's really unusual," said Worobey.
"The accumulation of 14 lineage-specific amino acid replacements before their detection is unprecedented, to date, in the genomic data of the global virus for the covid-19 pandemic," British scientists reported last week.
It's not just the number of mutations that worries some scientists, but the way they could work together.
'Many of these mutations have been characterized in the laboratory and we know something about them.
However, their combination (along with other changes) has not been characterized, ”Bedford tweeted on Tuesday.
Pfizer and Moderna are testing the vaccine to see if it works against the new variant.
Dr. Ugur Sahin, CEO of BioNTech, said he does not believe the new variant will cause a problem, but if it does, the vaccine can be updated.
"We must not forget that we still have the opportunity, if necessary, to adjust the vaccine exactly to this new variant of the virus, if necessary," Sahin said.
I don't think this is necessary.
But if necessary, there is the technical possibility of doing it.
- CNN's Michael Nedelman and Frederik Pleitgen contributed to this report.
vaccine against covid-19 coronavirus variant