Vaccine team assures on new COVID variant

The emergence in the United Kingdom (UK) of a variant of the COVID-19 virus has raised new fears around the world, but the German firm BioNTech which developed the Pfizer vaccine said it has “scientific confidence” its drug will also work on the variant.

The proteins in the variant are 99 percent the same as those in the virus now spreading around the world, Dr. Ugur Sahin, who developed the vaccine with his wife, Dr. Ozlem Tureci, said. There is zero evidence that there is an increase in severity from the variant, he said.

He added his team would need around two weeks to test its vaccine on the new variant and “the likelihood that our vaccine works is relatively high.” Should the vaccine need to be adjusted for the new variant, the company could do so in about six weeks, Dr. Sahin said.

This is the first reassuring statement about the new COVID-19 variant since it emerged recently in the UK, followed by South Africa. The report sent a new wave of concern around the world. We are just beginning mass vaccinations against COVID-19 but already there is a new variant.

Our own President Duterte was quick to act on the report of the UK variant. On the day it was reported, he approved a recommendation to ban all flights from the UK to the Philippines, and to subject all travelers from countries reporting cases of the new strain to a mandatory 14-day quarantine.

Most of the world is reeling today from the pandemic, with the United States passing 20 million cases on New Year’s Day, amid reports of a very slow pace of vaccination. More than 3,900 people died in one day alone – Wednesday, December 23 – and health workers fear the worst is yet to come as a result of the holiday gatherings.

President-elect Joseph Biden, who takes office on January 20, asked Americans to wear face masks to slow down the virus, but it seems this matter falls under the jurisdiction of state governments, not the federal government. Outgoing President Donald Trump himself has given mixed messages on mask wearing and social distancing and has repeatedly downplayed the risks of COVID-19 infection.

The COVID-19 situation remains uncertain in most of the world but the fear over the new strain of the virus has been allayed by the team behind the Pfizer vaccine. Even with the vaccine, the world will have to live with the constant threat of some new virus emerging. It is a new world that we just have to face with greater care and with greater respect for the natural order.