Across the United States, and the world, the coronavirus seems to be loosening its stranglehold. The deadly curve of cases, hospitalizations and deaths has yo-yoed before, but never has it plunged so steeply and so fast.
Is this it, then? Is this the beginning of the end? After a year of being pummeled by grim statistics and scolded for wanting human contact, many Americans feel a long-promised deliverance is at hand.
Pfizer and its partner BioNTech said Thursday they are beginning a study to test whether a third shot of their COVID-19 vaccine will help protect against variants of the virus.
Andy Slavitt, White House senior adviser on the coronavirus response, said vaccine-producing companies plan to update their shots to address variants of the virus.
During a Washington Post live interview Thursday, he said the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines “work well for” the most prominent variant spreading throughout the United States, which is the one first identified in Britain.
He said that while the vaccines appear less effective against the variants first identified in Brazil and South Africa, they do produce some antibodies.
As Americans anxiously watch the spread of coronavirus variants that were first identified in Britain and South Africa, scientists are finding a number of new variants that seem to have originated in the United States — and many of them may pose the same kind of extra-contagious threat.
In a study posted on Sunday, a team of researchers reported seven growing lineages of the coronavirus, spotted in states across the country. All have gained a mutation at the exact same spot in their genes.
LONDON — The dominant coronavirus variant in the U.K. is becoming more resistant to vaccines, scientific experts have warned.
Two leading scientists in the U.K. warned Wednesday that the variant of the virus first identified in Kent has acquired the same E484K mutation on its spike protein that makes the South Africa variant so worrying for experts.
GENEVA (AP) — Independent experts advising the World Health Organization about immunization on Wednesday recommended the use of AstraZeneca’s vaccine even in countries that turned up worrying coronavirus variants in their populations.
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