United States /
U.S. Chief Epidemiologist Anthony Fauci said today that after data released by the UK government it should be assumed that the British variant of covid-19 can “cause more harm, including death“, And pointed out that the vaccine is still effective even against the mutation detected in South Africa.
Fauci’s statements come just days after executive orders were signed by the recently assumed president of the United States, Joe Biden, and which he himself testified.
“We have to assume now that what is circulating predominantly in the UK has a certain degree of increase in what we call virulence, that is, the power of viruses to cause harm, including death, “the expert told the program Face the nation, From the chain CBS News.
He added that “the latest data match what the British say. We want to see the data ourselves, but we have reason to believe it. They are a very competent group“.
Fauci stated that the new British variant of coronavirus is “in at least 20 entities in the United States,” and noted that the vaccines administered in the country, which are from Moderna and Pfizer with BioNTech, “they appear to continue to protect against the mutant strain“.
The United States surpassed today, just over a year after it reported its first case of covid-19, the 25 million infected with the virus, And reached 417,000 538 deaths, which keeps it as the country most affected by the pandemic in the world.
Asked about the presence in the United States of the lineage discovered in South Africa, Fauci admitted that he cannot say “definitely” that they know it as a fact.
“What has been analyzed so far has not appeared in any of the surveillance activities, but we have to greatly expand our genomic surveillance“, He argued.
The official added that while it has been observed that the South African mutation may “in some respects” nullify the effectiveness of vaccines, they are still within a “level of cushioning” that vaccines makes effective against these variants.
“The best way to prevent further evolution of these mutants is to vaccinate as many people as possible with the vaccines we currently have at our disposal,” Fauci said.
OMZI