Vaccines feared to be ineffective against “most dangerous” COVID variant

A new COVID-19 variant has been discovered in a South African region. It is said to have about 50 mutations and vaccines are feared to be ineffective against it.

South Africa’s Health Minister Joe Phaahla has identified the variant as B.1.1.529, which is believed to be very contagious among young people.

The WHO is holding a meeting on Friday to discuss the surge in COVID-19 cases in South Africa. The variant is expected to be given a Greek name.

B.1.1.529 has shocked South African health experts as they did not expect it to evolve and have so many mutations. Scientists are still figuring out whether the variant can sneak past the immune response.

More research is being conducted to see whether it will reduce the efficacy of the vaccines.

The UK has banned flights from South Africa and five other African countries. The ban will be effective from 12:00PM GMT on Friday.

Experts are fearing that the new variant might be even more transmissible than the Delta variant, and vaccines might become less effective.

Although, these are just fears and we won’t be certain until more research is conducted on the variant.

B.1.1.529

Most COVID-19 vaccines target the virus’ spike protein, and the B.1.1.529 variant is said to have over 30 mutations on it.

The very contagious Delta variant had two mutations on its receptor-binding domain. The B.1.1.529 has 10.

The COVID vaccines that we’re using are made for the original virus that came out from Wuhan, China. Massive mutations ring alarm bells because they can bypass the protection our immune system develops with the help of vaccines.

It’s like an intruder coming into your home and has a cloak on to bypass the security cameras and go unnoticed, until he hits the jackpot.

Some experts are hoping this variant to be a false positive. Hoping it just dies out like the much-feared Beta variant which was overshadowed by Delta’s spread.