What you need to know
- The NYT reported, citing in part unpublished research from Columbia University, that a new variant appeared to appear in the city with a mutation that could weaken the effectiveness of vaccines.
- Neither city nor state officials had previously spoken publicly about the investigation; Dr. Jay Varma, the mayor’s chief health adviser, encouraged skepticism: “Not all variants are public health concerns.”
- The newspaper did not immediately respond to criticism of the story; the Columbia doctor he quoted said, “It’s weird that we’re being criticized for doing good science to alert the city to what’s going on.”
A New York Times report on a possible new variant of COVID spreading in New York City is provoking riots, but scientists and City Council quickly criticized what they said was the potentially premature launch of a unfinished research.
The Times reported Wednesday, citing in part unpublished research from Columbia University, that a new variant appeared to appear in the city with a mutation that could weaken the effectiveness of vaccines.
Neither city nor state health officials had previously spoken publicly about this new development, and immediately raised concerns about the possibility of another wave of disease.
But prominent figures quickly criticized both Columbia and the Times for reporting what they suggested were unfinished work.
“It wasn’t even a ‘prepress’: I was asked to comment on the draft manuscript of someone who was still tracking the changes and didn’t include the numbers. Based on that, the NYT wrote a history. This is absolute disorder, “Nathan Grubaugh, a professor at the Yale School of Public Health, wrote on Twitter.
With new, more contagious variants of the circulating coronavirus, health experts are adjusting their recommendations for facial masks. NBC News’ medical correspondent, Dr. John Torres, joined LX News to explain why you should make sure the face mask is well-fitted and folded.
The City Council also participated in the early dissemination of the data, and Mayor’s spokesman Bill de Blasio commissioned both the university and the newspaper.
“It’s great that Columbia and other academics are studying variants of COVID. But please, please, for the sake of all that is holy, share the data with public health officials before announcing the pre -scripts that still have follow-up changes with the NY Times. That’s it, “Bill Neidhardt tweeted Thursday morning.
One of De Blasio’s top scientific advisers also criticized the notification, and others like it, as “pathogenic porn” that was not useful for public health efforts.
“Complaint to academics: review high-impact studies with government health departments before marketing them to the media. We have to decipher science from the journalist’s summary as they send out calls from elected officials, the public and the media of communication on how policy changes. helping public health, “said Dr. Jay Varma he tweeted early Thursday.
In an interview with LX News, Dr. Anthony Fauci addressed the multiplications of coronavirus mutations, including a British variant that is thought to be more deadly and more contagious. Watch the full interview with Dr. Fauci at NBCLX this Tuesday at 8 a.m. and 8 p.m.
He later raised the issue at the mayor’s daily briefing on the coronavirus, encouraging New Yorkers to “be a little skeptical” of what they were reading.
“Not all variants are of public health concern. Some variants are just that: they are variants, they are a little different. Some variants are variants of interest, they have changes in their structure that can change the ‘property’ virus.” said Varma, the mayor’s senior public health adviser. “And some variants are variants of what we call public health concerns: they have these mutations and we have enough data to show that they change if the virus is more infectious, if it is more lethal, if it can change immunity “.
As for the Columbia report, Varma said, “We just need to consider this a variant of interest, which is interesting that we need to follow up and follow up. But nothing changes about our concern for public health. We need more data and studies to understand it “.
Dr. Dave Chokshi, the city health commissioner who fought COVID-19 earlier this month, said there is no evidence at this time to suggest that the variant identified in the Columbia report has contributed to the trajectory of the cases, which he noted continue to decline since his last holiday hike.
“We also have no evidence that the variant is concentrated in any part of the city,” Chokshi said. “The science around this is less established compared to other variants such as the UK variant, which we are also following closely. As we get information from these new studies, they remain quite exploratory with respect to the effects of real world – – and that’s the most important thing from a public health perspective. ”
With the new variants of COVID-19 from the UK, South Africa and Brazil, doctors are rushing to vaccinate as many Americans as possible before more mutations appear. Dr. Natasha Bhuyan, regional director of One Medical, joined LX News to talk about why vaccines are so important right now and how she encourages her patients to overcome their skepticism about it.
One scientist, Eric Topol, took to Twitter to wonder why the report on a possible “reamer” without review had been published in the biomedical community. (The story, in addition to Columbia research, also cites data available from Caltech, but also available to the public).
The author of the Times story responded to Topol with her reasoning.
“To be fair, I convinced them to let me write about it so readers could see both lines of evidence at once. And everyone I quoted saw the manuscript and thought it seemed legitimate. It should come out soon. (S ‘ has sent) “, Apoorva Mandavilli tweeted Wednesday night in response to Topol.
The document was not immediately available to comment on the criticism of the story.
Dr. David Ho, who heads the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center, told News 4 that the Columbia University doctor said, “It’s weird that we’re being criticized for doing good science for alert the city of what is happening. notified a couple of weeks ago. The NY Times started with another Caltech prepress that appeared days ago. “
Dr. Anthony Fauci said Thursday that new data indicates that existing COVID-19 vaccines were still effective against new variants. “Right now, according to the reports we have literally as of today, it looks like the vaccines will still be effective against them with the big warning that you want to be very careful about them,” Fauci said.
New York City officials, while arguing with the Times report on any locally emerging variant, have repeatedly expressed concern about other more transmissible coronavirus strains that have grown the most in the United States.
Varma encouraged them to continue sharing information, even after the criticism; it is only a matter of classifying the data, in case they are published to the public.
“We definitely want all of our academic partners to work closely with us, sharing their data, sharing their findings, because this is a challenging battle and public health is a team activity,” he said.
Variant B.1.1.7, which first emerged in the UK last year, has spread to almost every state in America, 45 according to the latest CDC report. To date, New York State has confirmed at least 154 cases of this strain, which according to city officials can be more lethal, according to preliminary UK evidence, than previously thought, as well as being more contagious. New Jersey has confirmed 50 such cases.
The South African variant has different mutations than those present in the UK strain, which raises concerns about the effectiveness of current vaccines against it. Modern will soon begin clinical trials of a COVID booster shot for the South African variant, citing a weaker immune response for its two-dose regimen against this particular strain. This variant is still relatively rare in the US
New York has confirmed two cases so far, both in Nassau County, while the CDC reports 46 cases detected in 14 states. In comparison, the UK strain has been found in about 2,000 U.S. samples.
Dr. Anthony Fauci highlighted preliminary studies indicating that coronavirus vaccines will have a positive impact in slowing the spread of COVID-19. “The vaccine is important not only for the health of the individual to protect it against infections and diseases … but it also has very important implications from the point of view of public health to interfere and decrease the dynamics of the outbreak “.
The CDC only updates its variant numbers three times a week, so the latest federal data may not reflect the latest local data. New York City and state have stepped up their testing and research of potentially new strains in recent weeks. CDC is expected to update its numbers later Thursday, however.
In general, vaccines are expected to work in the variants that have emerged and in the new strains that will emerge over time. City officials said participating in the basic mitigation efforts that slowed the spread in the first place (dressing in masks, distancing oneself socially, washing hands, and staying home when they are sick) remains the most effective means of protection against the most transmissible strains.
“The most important message New Yorkers need to hear is that we need him to keep doing all the things we’ve been doing. We realize this is painful and difficult, but persistence is really important,” Varma said. “Follow the directions on this, particularly the directions on wearing two masks if you don’t have a proper mask. When it’s your turn, get vaccinated.”