According to experts mutating virus is not a new phenomenon. But, we certainly need to be more vigilant.
Amid the ongoing threat of the global COVID-19 pandemic, the end of the year got more complicated as a new mutant has been discovered in the United Kingdom. The UK believes there are still too many unknowns when it comes to this ‘mutated’ version of coronavirus. The new variant, code-named as B.1.1.7, has been widely tracked in recent cases in the UK.
However, according to experts mutating virus is not a new phenomenon. But, we certainly need to be more vigilant. We should not panic about the new mutant in Britain, but only become more cautious and adhere to precautions, said Dr Puneet Mishra, Researcher, AIIMS and Cardiologist Dr Ashok Seth.
On the effectiveness of the vaccine, Dr Mishra said that the vaccine against the deadly COVID-19 could be effective or there could be need to develop a new vaccine. It is too early to comment anything on this matter, Dr Mishra said.
Since the vaccine hasn’t been tested on pregnant women and children, they will not be given the shots.
Meanwhile, Dr Seth said that no vaccine is 100 per cent effective and even if it is 70-80 per cent, it is considered as good. “We apply flu vaccine to patients with heart, kidney and other serious illness. No vaccine is 100 per cent effective. We consider it good to be effective from 70 to 80 per cent. Every vaccine has its pros and cons.”
UK researchers have identified it as N501Y. The virus-carrying mutation has caused 1,100 new infections in 60 local authority areas, according to reports quoting UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock.
“Coronaviruses mutate all the time. So it is not unexpected that new variants of SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) are emerging, we see this all the time in other human and animal coronaviruses,” Prof Julian Hiscox, Chair in Infection and Global Health, University of Liverpool, was quoted as saying.
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