COVID-19 vaccines available in the United States have been found to be effective against the coronavirus strain detected in India, health officials said on Tuesday, 18 May.
The B.1.617 virus variant, first identified in India last year, has been classified as a ''variant of concern'' by the World Health Organisation.
“The modest neutralisation resistance to the 617 antibodies suggests that the current vaccines that we are all using that we’ve been speaking about would be at least partially and probably quite protective.”Dr Anthony Fauci, Director of US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and the chief medical advisor to the President
Dr Fauci substantiated the claim with data that both the variants B.1.617 and B.1.618 that have been identified in India have been neutralised with the vaccine, thus stressing the importance of getting vaccinated at the earliest.
He showed that many persons who were vaccinated with Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine showed a good response with antibodies against a wide range of variants.
The vaccines developed by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, that are being used by the US, are effective against the variant found in India, said Andy Slavitt, White House COVID-19 Senior Advisor, reported PTI.
India's COVID-19 death count climbed to 2,78,719 on Wednesday with a record 4,329 fresh fatalities. The country reported 2,63,533 new cases in a span of 24 hours, taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 2,52,28,996.
The active cases further reduced to 33,53,765 comprising 13.29 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has improved to 85.60 percent.
(With inputs from PTI)
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