New Strains for COVID-19 as of April 2021

Since the coronavirus has been among us for so long, it is not surprising that the virus has had time to mutate. The longer the virus spends being passed along from one human to another, the more mutations will be caused, and the severity and transmission of it will increase. As of right now, (April 5), there are six different strains of COVID-19 that are circulating the globe. B.1.1.7 was the variant that was found in the UK. B.1.351 was a variant that was found in South Africa at the start. P.1 was a variant that had been found in Japan, but it had come from people traveling from Brazil, so this is a variant that originated from Brazil. B.1.427 and B.1.429 were both found in California. The most recent mutation to have been found in the variant from India, that has just recently been found in America, (California to be precise). Since the first five variants have been addressed in a previous post titled “Different Strains of COVID-19”, this post will be addressing what the new Indian variant is, and whether the developed vaccines will be working to prevent the infection of these new variants.

The new variant originating from India had been found in California’s Bay Area on April 4th, the first time it has been detected in the US. This variant also had been coined the name “double mutant” variant because it is a variant that has mutated twice. This variant is especially concerning because it includes the mutation that is found in the South African variant as well as the Brazilian variant, as well as the mutation in one of California’s variants. This means that the virus had originally started off as either the Brazilian variant, or the South African variant, but managed to make contact with one of California’s variants and mutate once again. Another reason that this variant is concerning, is because the California variants are known to make the vaccine's antibodies less effective, which leads us to our next topic.

Will the vaccines that have already been developed work on the variants? According to the World Health Organization, Pfizer, Moderna, and Novavax vaccines are effective against the UK variant of the virus. Those same vaccines are four to seven times less effective against the Brazil variant, and even though that seems very negative, it means that there is still a certain amount of protection that each vaccine gives to a person. Unfortunately, for the South African variant, the previously mentioned vaccines and the Johnson and Johnson vaccine don’t work nearly as well. As a result, Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson and Johnson will be looking into ways to make their vaccine better against this specific variant. As mentioned before, California’s variants are known to make the vaccines slightly less effective, and since the Indian variant has mutated from a Californian variant and a South African or Brazilian strain it is worrisome to think of how the vaccines may react to them.

So what exactly will each of these vaccine developers be doing? Pfizer is seeing if three doses of their vaccine will give better protection compared to just their original two doses, as well as improving their original vaccine to make it stronger against this variant. Moderna (as well as Novavax) is thinking of making vaccines that are specific to a variant. Johnson and Johnson are doing the same thing as them while giving the participants of their trial the second dose of their original vaccine instead of just giving them one dose. For the Californian variants and the new Indian variant, none of the vaccine producers have said anything about changing their vaccine to make it stronger to combat them.

It will be inevitable to see more mutations of the original COVID-19 strain emerge because this pandemic has raged on for more than a year. The only way we can stop the emergence of new variants is by stopping the spread of the virus. To stop the spread of the virus, we must stand six feet apart, wear a mask, and follow the health guidelines that medical experts have recommended us to abide by. If we are able to work together, this pandemic will end soon and we will be able to return to a life that is somewhat normal. For now, we shall stay vigilant because we will be able to get through this together if we each do our own part in staying safe.

Until next time, Keerthana

Sources:

1. Science Brief: Emerging SARS-CoV-2 Variants

2. New Double Mutant Coronavirus Variant From India Found In California For First Time

3. Where Do COVID Vaccines Stand Against the Variants? (webmd.com)

4. How dangerous is India’s ‘double mutant’ COVID-19 variant?

5. The Race To Discover A COVID-19 Vaccine