LONDON – The dominant variant of coronavirus in the UK is becoming increasingly resistant to vaccines, scientific experts have warned.
Two prominent scientists in the United Kingdom warned on Wednesday that the virus variant first identified in Kent has acquired the same E484K mutation in its ear protein as the South African variant. so worrying for experts.
Public health authorities are closely monitoring two emerging variants in the UK. The first of these two home-grown variants has been found mainly in Bristol and the south-west, where experts have confirmed 15 cases, with six more in other parts of England. The second variant is located in Liverpool and the North West, with a group of 42 cases confirmed so far.
Sharon Peacock, executive director and chair of the COVID-19 Genomics UK Consortium (COG-UK), told POLITICO in an interview that this is of “great concern” because the mutation has been associated with vaccine immunity and reinfection in South Africa.
“Our home-grown variant develops this mutation on numerous occasions probably through a process of natural selection,” he said. “If the virus gets benefits from a particular mutation, it is likely to persist in the population and spread. This is becoming a major concern in the country.”
At a Downing Street press conference on Wednesday, the UK government’s chief scientific adviser, Patrick Vallance, said it was “not surprising” that the Kent variant has evolved in this way and will also happen in other places.
“Getting this variant makes it a little more likely to look different to the immune system, so we have to watch it,” Vallance said. “We need to keep up to date and continue to test the effects of the vaccine in this situation.”
Peacock said the UK government’s approach to border controls, which will be tightened from Monday, is “generally good” as it tests people after arrival as well as genome sequencing. of positive cases, it will allow the UK to understand how the virus could be mutating in other parts of the world.
But he warned that strict border controls would not offer full protection to the British population because “there are chances of variants appearing in the UK that are unrelated to border control”, as is happening in Bristol.
Help others
The Peacock-led consortium offers genome-wide sequencing of coronavirus samples to the National Health Service and the British government. Currently, British experts sequence 27,000 genomes a week, but that number will continue to rise, while British experts also share their tools and data to try to increase the capacity of other countries.
Peacock said a total of 26 countries in Asia, Europe and Africa had so far committed to the work of the UK, although he did not want to name any. “The basics for being able to do sequencing are practically there in a lot of resourceful places,” he said.
The president of the consortium added: “It’s about how a network is formed, and that really has to do with cooperation and collaboration, and uniting the whole system, from the patient to the test, to the generation. “sequences and then back to public health. It’s a pretty complicated business to set up.”
The entire sequencing process, from the time a COVID-19 patient is tested, to the interpretation of the sequencing data, currently takes about five days at the SANGER Institute in Cambridge and a little more in the regional labs. “Right now we’re constantly working on our response time,” Peacock said. “For an effective investigation of the outbreak, you really need to take the test to respond within 36 hours,” he said.
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