U.S. authorities are studying “very carefully” the variant of the virus that is spreading in the UK, top health officials said on Sunday, noting that the ban on traveling to the UK was not currently on the cards.
The news came when a group of American experts recommended that those over 75 be the next to be vaccinated against the virus, along with 30 million “front-line essential workers,” including teachers, employees of the store. groceries and police.
Addressing the virus variant, Moncef Slaoui, chief adviser to the government’s Operation Warp Speed vaccine program, told CNN’s “State of the Union” that US officials “do not yet know” if they are present. in the country.
“We are, of course, studying it very carefully,” including the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, he said.
At the moment, he said, no strain of the virus appears to be resistant to available vaccines.
“I think this particular variant in the UK is very unlikely to have escaped vaccine immunity,” Slaoui said.
“I don’t think there’s any cause for alarm at this time,” agreed Admiral Brett Giroir, a U.S. official overseeing coronavirus testing, when asked about the new variant of “The Week.” the ABC.
Asked if the United States is likely to follow the example of European countries that have suspended flights from the UK, Giroir replied: “I really don’t think we should do that yet.”
Slaoui told CNN on Monday about eight million more doses of Covid-19 vaccine in the United States, two million from the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine and 5.9 million from the Modern shot that was released on Friday.
Moderna’s first shot was “most likely tomorrow morning,” he said.