COVID-19 vaccines effective against new strain of virus, says German Minister

The European Union (EU) experts believe that the existing COVID-19 vaccine candidates against the novel coronavirus are also effective against the new strain that is rapidly spreading across the Uk except Northern Ireland. German Health Minister Jens Spahn told public broadcaster ZDF that based on the knowledge the authorities have so far about the variant, the new strain “has no impact on the vaccines” because they remain “just as effective”. 

Spahn made the claim citing “talks among experts of European authorities” while referring to the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer-BioNTech that is already being administered in several countries including the United States and the UK. Pfizer’s vaccine is also set to receive approval from the European Medicines Agency. As the new strain continues to spread in the UK, EU health ministry spokesperson reportedly said that the union’s experts held a meeting on December 20.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation (WHO) had said that it is aware of the new variant of COVID-19 but noted that there is still no evidence of the pathogen behaving any differently from the existing types of virus that have rocked the world since the beginning of 2020. Last week, WHO Emergencies Director Dr Mike Ryan had said in a Geneva news conference that authorities are still looking at the significance of the strain discovery and added, “We have seen many variants, this virus evolves and changes over time.”

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How fast is new strain spreading?

The new strain of COVID-19 is reportedly replacing the other versions of the virus in the UK. Even though it is a well-known fact among the experts that pathogens mutate as they continue to spread, as per reports, there are some parts of the new coronavirus variant that are likely to be important. 

Some of the mutations have already been shown in the lab to enhance the ability of the virus to infect cells in the host’s body. These new factors can sum up for the virus to spread more easily among the people even as the global infections as per Johns Hopkins University tally have surpassed 76 million with over 1.6 million deaths. 

The new strain, which can be the new worry for medical professionals, was reportedly first discovered in September. This was followed by a quarter of cases in London by November and by mid-December, it has reached to two-thirds of cases. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson had also said that the variant may be up to 70% more transmissible. Except for Northern Ireland, the new COVID-19 strain can be found across the UK.

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