A variant of COVID-19 that may be resistant to vaccines now exists in almost every state in the United States, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, with Alaska having the highest prevalence.
Mu variant-also known as B.1.621-is classified by the World Health Organization as a “variant of interest” (WHO), as of September 1, 47 states have reported cases of this strain.
According to Outbreak.info, the open source database of Scripps Research, the change is present in every state except Nebraska. However, Dr. Anthony Fauci It has been said that Mu is not regarded as a “direct threat.”
The worry about Mu stems from its mutation, This may make it resistant to the COVID-19 vaccine.
However, the Delta variant is still dominant in the United States, and Mu’s cases so far are relatively limited.
According to data from Outbreak.info, this strain is currently the most popular in Alaska, accounting for 4% of the 3,837 sequenced samples.
In terms of raw data, California had the most Mu cases in the sequencing samples, at 384-although the total number of samples tested was 139,930, which means that Mu accounted for only 1% of these samples. The numbers vary greatly from state to state, with 305 acres registered in Florida and only one in Vermont.
Mu was first discovered in Colombia and subsequently in at least 46 other countries
Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAD), said at a press conference on Thursday, Mu is not an imminent danger for the U.S.
Fauci said: “We are paying attention to it, we take everything like this seriously, but we don’t think it is a direct threat now.”
“This variant has a series of mutations, showing that it can evade certain antibodies, not only monoclonal antibodies, but also antibodies induced by vaccines and convalescent serum,” he said.
“But there is not a lot of clinical data to show this, mainly laboratory in vitro data,” Fauci added.
The infectious disease expert said: “Please remember that even if your variant does reduce the efficacy of the vaccine to a certain extent, the vaccine is still very effective against the variant at the time.”
On Thursday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Reported that More than 83% of Americans have COVID-19 antibodies Before the current delta wave begins.
A CDC study shows that this is largely due to the ongoing rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine and encourages those who have not yet been vaccinated to get the vaccine.
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