The latest experimental data show a 10 to 20% drop in the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines against the new Mu variant, reported for the first time on January 2021 in Colombia and identified by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as a “variant of interest”, Virologist Amin Selim told TAP on Thursday.

The “immune escape” of this variant contributes to the reduction of the protection rate, he said, pointing out that the administration of two vaccine doses helps reach a protection rate from 80 to 90% against 60 to 70% for the “Mu” variant, which according to the WHO, could be more resistant to the antibodies of the vaccine or a previous infection.

This variant affects all age groups and has similar symptoms to previous variants. Its severity varies from a person to another based on the health conditions (chronic diseases, age, etc), the virologist specified.

There is a need to be more cautious and monitor the land, air and sea borders as this variant’s genetic structure is known and could be identified, Selim said, calling for speeding up the vaccination rate in the country till reaching 70% by next October.

“Although the global prevalence of the Mu variant among sequenced COVID-19 cases is currently below 0.1%, its prevalence in Colombia (39%) and Ecuador (13%) has consistently increased,” the WHO warned.

Source: TAP News Agency