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Covid Chronicles XXI

By lockdown_exit - 23rd Dec 2020, 12:00 am - Covid Chronicles

The Grinch struck the UK just before Christmas even as it celebrated the world's first anti-Covid-19 vaccine jab, leaving London and other parts under the most severe lockdown in months. Flights from more than 40 countries have been suspended and more seemed likely to follow. Striking a reassuring note, the WHO declared that the mutant variant of Covid-19 identified in the UK and present in some other countries is not 'out of control,' according to WHO emergencies chief Mike Ryan. However, 'it cannot be left to its own devices', he warned. Those who contract the new variant are thought to infect 1.5 people on average, compared to 1.1 for earlier strains.

Scientists have never seen the virus acquire more than a dozen mutations seemingly at once. They think it happened during a long infection of a single patient that allowed Sars-Cov-2 to go through an extended period of fast evolution, with multiple variants competing for advantage. One reason to be concerned is that among the 17 are eight mutations in the gene that encodes the spike protein on the viral surface, two of which are particularly worrisome. One, called N501Y, has previously been shown to increase how tightly the protein binds to the ACE2 receptor, its entry point into human cells. The other, named 69-70del, leads to the loss of two amino acids in the spike protein and has been found in viruses that eluded the immune response in some immune compromised patients. 

Responsible for producing the world's first fully cleared anti-Covid vaccine, BioNTech Chief Executive Ugur Sahin said on Monday he was confident the vaccine co-developed by his company would be effective against the UK variant of the coronavirus. He said on Bild TV that the German company would investigate the mutation in the coming days but that he viewed the matter with 'a degree of soberness'. 

Moderna's coronavirus vaccine has become the second to be approved for emergency use in the US. The country's Food and Drug Administration announced the authorisation a day after the agency's panel of outside experts backed the vaccine. The FDA based its decision on results from a late-stage study of 30,000 volunteers which found that the vaccine was nearly 95% effective at preventing illness from Covid-19. The study also said there were no serious safety concerns resulting from the vaccine's use, although possible side effects include sore arms, fever, fatigue and muscle aches. 

The Oxford AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine is expected to be approved before the new year with vaccination to begin from the second week in January, The Telegraph reports. 

CureVac is set to begin phase 3 Covid-19 vaccine study in healthcare workers at the University Medical Centre Mainz in Germany. The Tubingen, Germany-headquartered company expects to vaccinate the first participant in this phase 3 study on 22nd December. 

Biotech company Valneva has developed a 'more traditional' vaccine in West Lothian, Scotland, and is rolling out a UK trial at four testing sites. The vaccine will initially be tested on 150 participants across Bristol, Birmingham, Newcastle and Southampton, with University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust hosting in Bristol. It is said to be the only vaccine candidate so far to use an inactive version of the virus, and if this early phase of testing is successful, it will progress to a much larger trial involving 4,000 people from April 2021. 

Global health officials have feared that richer nations could snap up much of the supply of Covid-19 vaccines, and since the early days of the pandemic, the WHO and its partners, including the GAVI vaccine alliance, have been pushing forward with COVAX, a plan to support the development of new vaccines and secure doses for participating countries. Experts have maintained that beating back the virus in all parts of the world, especially with vaccine, is a key step in ending the pandemic threat, but there are deep worries that a wide funding gap will cause a lengthy delay in the first vaccine deliveries for developing nations. In its announcement, the WHO said COVAX now has agreements in place to access nearly two billion doses of several promising vaccine candidates.

U.S. President-elect Joe Biden got the coronavirus jab publicly on Monday. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was vaccinated against the coronavirus on live television last Saturday, becoming the first Israeli citizen to be inoculated. Israel is set to begin vaccinating its health workers and nursing home residents beginning Sunday. Netanyahu said he wanted to be the country's first recipient to set a personal example and to encourage Israelis to get the shot. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence was vaccinated last Friday, in a similar attempt to boost public confidence in Covid-19 vaccines.

In sharp contrast to other world leaders, Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro has again lashed out at coronavirus vaccines, saying that Pfizer's shot could turn people into crocodiles, among other bizarre claims. During the outlandish rant on Thursday, Bolsonaro suggested that the vaccine could also lead to women growing facial hair and men speaking with effeminate voices. It might have been the funny ravings of a lunatic but for the fact that he is president of the sixth largest country (by population) in the world with the third highest number of Covid-19 cases (the highest in South America).

Meanwhile, as Annus Horribilis crawled its way to a close, Covid-19 cases surpassed 75 million last Saturday. In the previous month, new cases numbered 18.65 million - the highest number in a thirty-day period since the start of the pandemic. Europe is the region with the most cases so far, with 21.6 million. North America, Latin America and Asia follow, recording 17.9 million, 14.5 million and 13 million cases respectively. 

Since it can't get any worse, here's wishing one and all a peaceful and safe Christmas.

Lalita Panicker is Consulting Editor, Views, Hindustan Times, New Delhi