New Variant Mutation of Coronavirus Spreading Quickly in NYC; May be Resistant to Vaccine

Edited By: TJVNews.com

Just when we thought we were literally turning the corner of the infection rate due to the Covid-19 virus with the advent of several highly effective vaccines, it appears that New Yorkers are heading for yey another challenge in keep themselves safe.

According to a report in the NY Times, a worrisome mutation of the coronavirus is rapidly spreading in the New York City area and beyond, Two teams of researchers, according to the NYT report have said that the virus variant may result in a weakening of the vaccines that are now on the market.

First appearing in New York City in samples collected in November, the new variant is called B.1.526, The Times reported that one study of the new variant, led by a group at Caltech, was posted online on Tuesday. The other, by researchers at Columbia University, was published on Thursday morning.

By the middle of February, the Times reported that the variant accounted for about one in four viral sequences appearing in a database shared by scientists.

The aforementioned studies of the variant were not as yet published in a scientific journal, nor were they subjected to peer review, according to the NYT report. Experts and virologists do say, however, that the consistent results indicate that the spread of the variant is real.

Also on Thursday, Dr. Anthony Fauci, urged Americans to get vaccinated and to take whatever vaccine they can get first, indicating the level of gravitas being assigned to the spreading variant.

Speaking to the NY Times,  Michel Nussenzweig, an immunologist at Rockefeller University who was not involved in the new research said of the variant,  “It’s not particularly happy news. But just knowing about it is good because then we can perhaps do something about it.”

While California is also experiencing a quickly spreading variant of the virus. Dr. Nussenzweig said he was more worried about the variant in New York, as was reported in the NY Times.

By the end of March, experts predict that yet another contagious new variant, which was discovered in the UK will become the most widespread form of the coronavirus, to date. The Times reported that it now accounts for about 2000 cases in 45 states across the country.

Researchers have been meticulously examining genetic sequences of the virus taken from a small proportion of infected people to chart the emergence of new versions, according to the NYT report.

“We observed a steady increase in the detection rate from late December to mid-February, with an alarming rise to 12.7% in the past two weeks,” one team, at Columbia University Medical Center, write in a report that has yet to be published, although it is scheduled to appear in pre-print version this week, according to a CNN report.

In an e-mail sent to CNN. Dr. David Ho, Director of the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center at Columbia said, “It’s home grown, presumably in New York.”

CNN reported that “the mutation in this variant that most concerns researchers is called E484K and it gives the virus the ability to slip past some of the body’s immune response, as well as the authorized monoclonal antibody treatments. This mutation is popping up independently in many different cases but appears in one particular variant, as well — the one called B.1.526.”

“There was a pattern that was recurring, and a group of isolates concentrated in the New York region that I hadn’t seen,” said Anthony West, a computational biologist at Caltech, according to the NYT report.