Viral variants – with a faster rate of spread, a higher risk of death, and an easier way to bypass existing vaccines – are threatening efforts to contain the COVID-19 pandemic.
The world has been getting COVID-19 vaccination for several months. Besides the hope that the COVID-19 pandemic will soon be controlled, there is no small concern with the fact that a series of new virus variants have appeared and are still appearing. It can be said that the global market is in the race between the vaccine and the unknown virus variants. 
The COVID-19 vaccine from Johnson & Johnson started being distributed in the US in early March amid dangerous spreading of the variants. Photo: GETTY IMAGES Many dangerous variations Virus strain means there is a mutation, changes in the genetic structure of the virus, causing the virus to change the way it works. In addition to the old virus strain, the world currently has many new variants such as B.1.1.7 (originated from England, has spread to more than 90 countries), B.1.351 from South Africa (has spread to more than 40 countries). , P1 and P2 from Brazil (has spread to 25 countries, some cases have been infected and recovered from being re-infected with variant P1), D614G from Europe, A.23.1 from Rwanda. In which the variant appeared from South Africa is said to be the most difficult to prevent and the most dangerous. Studies show that the vaccine strain B.1.351 of the vaccine from Pfizer / BioNTech and of AstraZeneca / Oxford is not as effective as the old vaccine. Clinical trials of vaccines by Johnson & Johnson and Novavax also showed that the ability to prevent this variant is not high. These variants – with a faster rate of spread, a higher risk of death, and an easier way to outdo existing vaccines – threaten efforts to contain the COVID-19 pandemic. And yet, the appearance of the variants also points to another concern: More dangerous variants will emerge in the future if the world fails to win the current race. The current pace of immunization globally is worryingly slow, especially in poor countries. It can be understood that even though rich countries vaccinate rapidly, new variants may emerge in poor countries that have not yet had adequate immunization coverage. Understanding these risks, vaccine developers are working hard to increase effectiveness in coping with variants. And the global health organizations are also making efforts to accelerate the speed of global distribution and vaccination. These are difficult times. This will be our toughest time to see which side wins. If we can hold on for another month or six, there’s a big difference. TS PETER HOTEZ , Rector of Baylor College of Tropical Medicine (USA) Vaccine firms’ efforts The Pfizer / BioNTech vaccines and Moderna’s vaccines (both doses) both use the mRNA molecule as the foundation. This molecule instructs the body to make a mutant protein found in the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which signals the immune system to fight off the mutant protein if encountered. The Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine (two doses) uses a reprogrammed version of another virus, adenovirus, that uses the DNA encoding the mutant protein of SARS-CoV-2. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine (single dose) also uses adenovirus. With these two vaccine platforms, once they want to redirect to deal with new variants, developers will need to modify their DNA or mRNA codes. Fortunately, this can be done simply and quickly, but the disadvantage is that it will require expensive changes to the vaccine production process and more time to produce and distribute. Hoping to avoid these shortcomings, Pfizer is now considering the possibility of adding a third dose to the current two-dose regimen to reinforce the effectiveness of preventing new variants. Talk to the radio NBC News At the end of February, Pfizer chief executive Albert Bourla was confident that “the third dose will increase the antibody response 10 to 20 times”. Moderna is also working on the possibility of giving one-dose booster to the current two-dose regimen. In addition, at the end of February Moderna sent a version of the vaccine optimized to cope with the variant in South Africa to the US National Institutes of Health for further study. Meanwhile, Johnson & Johnson is confident its vaccine is resistant to many more variants because it is developed later than the above brands. Johnson & Johnson are also working on a two-dose vaccine (currently only available in one-dose version). Last week Pfizer announced that it would soon launch the trial of COVID-19, a positive news that gives further hope to quell the pandemic. Meanwhile according to the news agency Reuters Currently, many Asian countries are speeding up the distribution of AstraZeneca’s vaccine, after a period of concerns about the safety of the information that this vaccination causes thrombosis appeared in Europe. Earlier this week, many countries and territories in Asia activated vaccination. Some regional leaders are also vaccinated to reinforce confidence, including the Head of the Administration of Taiwan Institute – Mr. To Trinh Xuong, Prime Minister of Thailand Prayut Chan-o-cha. In Europe, after a short hiatus, many continental countries have also restored this vaccination. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson received the first dose last weekend and said “nothing strange”. The AstraZeneca vaccine is one of the few first available COVID-19 vaccines, available at a low cost and according to Reuters This vaccine will be at the heart of COVID-19 vaccination programs in most developing countries. The positive side of “vaccine diplomacy” Currently, the giants of vaccine COVID-19 (USA, China, India) are trying to expand distribution of vaccine globally. Compared to the US, the two countries India and China are more enthusiastic about implementing the campaign “vaccine diplomacy”. China has announced it will donate vaccines to 53 countries, and has already shipped millions of doses of its domestic vaccine to Asia, Africa and Latin America. When asked if the US could surpass China in “vaccine diplomacy” last week, the State Department spokesman did not respond. However, according to the news site The Hill The US is working with countries in the quartet group (India, Australia, Japan) to discuss providing vaccines to Asian countries to both stop the COVID-19 epidemic and as a counterbalance to China’s “vaccine diplomacy” campaign. National. Secretary of State Antony Blinken discussed this with three of their counterparts from February 18. During a meeting with G7 leaders last month, US President Joe Biden promised that the United States would donate 4 billion doses to the World Health Organization (WHO) Gavi vaccine alliance and possibly many more.
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