Dr. John Nkengasong, director of Africa’s Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, said he is “very concerned” about the emergence of a vaccine-resistant strain.
Top health officials in Europe and Africa said Wednesday they are worried about the potential emergence of new Covid variants that could render current vaccines useless.
Dr. John Nkengasong, director of Africa’s Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, said he is “very concerned” about the emergence of a vaccine-resistant variant such as the Delta variant which was first detected in India and continues to spread around the world. Studies have shown that current vaccines work against the new variant, although not as well as they do against the original wild type virus.
“It is increasingly concerning that this pandemic will be driven by the cycle of occurrence and reoccurrence of different variants,” Nkengasong said at The Wall Street Journal’s Health Tech conference. “The speed at which these viruses overtake the existing viruses is amazing.”
The Delta variant was first identified by scientists in October has since spread to more than 62 countries, dominating the U.K. and now responsible for more new infections in the country than the Alpha variant.
