businessClosed Nov 26, 2021
New Virus Variant: Your Questions Answered
- Pitt says aim should to be eliminate virus, not live with it
- Pitt says vaccines perhaps not as effective against new variant
- Fazeli says shots can still prevent most serious disease
- Heymann says vaccines can be reconfigured fast
- Fazeli says waning immunity not causing death spike
Photographer: Pedro Vilela/Getty Images
Beyond that, Fazeli noted how new antiviral medicines will probably still protect against hospitalizations in at-risk people, while monoclonal antibody therapies that really target the spike protein (which, in the case of this variant, has undergone some big mutations) may struggle to maintain their earlier levels of effectiveness. And despite all the gloomy news on the pandemic these days, Sarah Pitt offered a hopeful view that, with enough vaccinations and collaboration around the world, we may not have to “live with” the virus or accept that it will ultimately become endemic.
I’ll leave you all with that cheerful note on an otherwise nerve-rattling day. Stay safe heading into the weekend!
