U.S. health officials in South Carolina said Jan. 28 that two new cases of crown associated with a South African variant of the virus were found. This is the first Time a more transmissible South African variant of the virus has appeared in the United States.
The virus is shifting, but the presence of the South African variant in the United States is particularly worrisome because several laboratory studies have shown that it reduces the effectiveness of vaccines.
So far, the vaccines produced by Moderna Inc and Pfizer Inc/BioNTech still appear to protect against the mutated virus, but the companies said this week that they are considering new versions of the vaccine as a precaution.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in a statement that it is aware of the cases and noted that there is no evidence that the mutated virus causes more serious illness.
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