Europe is currently suffering from a new COVID-19 variant. Medical experts claimed that the new type of virus is expected to hit the United States next.
A member of staff poses with a phial of Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine at a vaccination health centre on the first day of the largest immunisation programme in the UK's history on December 8, 2020 in Cardiff, United Kingdom. Wales joined the other UK nations in rolling out the covid-19 vaccine on Tuesday, a rare moment of coordination after months of disjointedness in the four nations' pandemic response.
According to CNN Health's latest report, the current variant in Europe was first found in the United Kingdom. Experts said that it is more contagious and causes more severe symptoms. Aside from these, they added that Europe's new B.1.1.7 variant could quickly infect younger people.
"If we can just hold out, if we can just get enough vaccine between now and the summer, we can actually beat this one," said Michael Osterholm, an epidemiologist.
Osterholm added that since the supply of COVID-19 vaccines could arrive a little longer, they are getting more impatient.
How dangerous is Europe's new COVID-19 variant?
As of the moment, more than 5,000 COVID-19 patients in France are currently in ICUs. Previously, experts warned in January that France would suffer from rapid coronavirus infection spread.
A vial of the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine is seen during a vaccination clinic at the Sir Ludwig Guttmann Health and Wellbeing Centre on December 15, 2020 in Stratford, England. After rolling out the vaccine to dozens of "hub" hospitals last week, the NHS is now enlisting several hundred primary care practices in its covid-19 vaccination campaign.
On the other hand, Turkish officials confirmed that the new B.1.1.7 COVID-19 variant caused most of the country's infected patients. Aside from France and Turkey, Canada is also affected by the new variant, leading to more infections and hospitalizations. Officials said that most of the patients include young individuals.
Is BioNTech efficient against it?
USA Today reported that the developers of the BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine claimed that their product now has 100% efficacy against coronavirus. However, they did not say if it is also efficient against the new Europe variant.
Although this is the case, Pfizer and BioNTech claimed that their vaccine is safe and effective for 12 to 15 years old patients. Albert Bourla, chairman and CEO of Pfizer, said that they hope that their vaccine will soon be distributed to young patients.
He added that there is an urgency to expand the scope of the BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine so that additional populations could have it. You can click here to know more details.
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Written by: Giuliano de Leon
