Two teams of researchers have claimed that the newly encountered Coronavirus variant that is spreading rapidly in New York carries a mutation that does have the ability to reduce vaccine effectiveness.
Researchers from Caltech & Columbia University who have been conducting the research work in mutated Coronavirus have named this new virus as B.1.526. According to them, the mutated coronavirus was firstly appeared in samples collected in New York, in November 2020.
It has not been proved yet that this new variant is more deadly or if it impacts the vaccine. However, the researchers from Columbia University have claimed that the newly encountered B.1.526 named variant is quite similar to the B.1.351and P.1 variant that was first identified in South Africa and Brazil respectively.
Why the B.1.526 Coronavirus variant can be Dangerous?
Both the variants that are being claimed to be similar to this newly identified New York’s variant can be a thing for us to get worried about. Why? Well, the reason being, both the variants from South Africa and Brazil are more prone to transmissibility and having more resistance to the existing Covid-19 vaccines. All of these three mutated variants do have different style protein spikes called E48K which is believed to weaken the body’s immune response system against the virus.
Scientists have claimed that these mutated variants of Coronavirus can be approximately 50 to 70 percent more deadly than the previous variants. Also, these variants can spread rapidly, approximately over 30 percent faster.
The science-led biopharmaceutical company AstraZeneca has said that they are working on their existing vaccine by inserting a genetic sequence from the newly identified variant of Coronavirus.
Coronavirus Type
The types of Coronavirus are named based on their crown-spiked on the surface. Here are 4 main types of Coronavirus;
- 229E (alpha coronavirus)
- NL63 (alpha coronavirus)
- OC43 (beta coronavirus)
- HKU1 (beta coronavirus)
