Fauci Urges Americans to Get Vaccinated: ‘Viruses Cannot Mutate If They Don’t Replicate’

“You need to get vaccinated when it becomes available as quickly and as expeditiously as possible throughout the country,” Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious-disease official, said Monday at a briefing. He highlighted that “viruses cannot mutate if they don’t replicate.”

A Covid-19 mutation that likely confers partial resistance to the antibodies produced by vaccines is now in the U.S., spurring scientists to probe new ways to battle a disease that’s constantly changing and could remain active for years.

The South African variant has already spread quickly across the African continent and has been seen in at least 24 countries outside of Africa. It was reported in South Carolina on Jan. 28 and in Maryland two days later. If that looks like just a beachhead, note that a U.K. mutation first seen in Colorado on Dec. 29 was detected in more than 2 dozen U.S. states in less than a month. Both variants are considered more contagious than the original strain.

Late-stage trials released last week on vaccines developed by Johnson & Johnson and Novavax Inc. showed their shots to be generally potent against early forms of Covid-19. But results from studies done in South Africa told a less impressive tale. The J&J shot was found to be 72% effective in the U.S., but that fell to 57% in South Africa. Novavax’s shot, 89% effective in the U.K., was only 49% effective in South Africa.

The results are “sobering,” said Eric Topol, director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute in San Diego. “We see an unequivocal drop-off in efficacy.”

That means that vaccine makers must now divert attention to work on either booster shots or a new, adjusted vaccine that can work better against the South African mutation, known scientifically as B.1.351, even as the world is ramping up injections of the first shots put into use, he said.

“We are having enough of a struggle getting the first round of vaccines in,” Topol said.

Before the J&J and Novavax results were made public, lab tests looking at the number of antibodies induced by vaccines from Pfizer Inc. and Moderna Inc. already in use suggest that while they may be less potent against the South African variant, they still had enough punch to hold it off.

But what that meant in terms of illness in the real world was unclear. The latest outcomes offer a more precise indication, said Fauci on a conference call on Friday.

“It’s really a wake up call for us to be nimble, and to be able to adjust as this virus will continue for certain to evolve and to mutate,” he said. “Now we have the real-world clinical consequences, and we can see that we are going to be challenged.”

In statements at the New York Press Club on Friday, Fauci said it was “concerning that you need to stay ahead of these mutants, and essentially crush this outbreak so there’s no more replication. And when there’s no more replication, you’re not going to have any mutations.”

In laboratory results reported before the new Novavax and J&J trial data was in, scientists from the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center at Columbia University found that the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines were 6.5 to 8.6-fold less potent against the South African mutation.

“Looking at our results you cannot say this would doom the vaccine. That would be wrong,” said David Ho, who leads the lab. “But I think it is equally wrong to say everything is rosy.”

The world has “allowed the virus to infect 100 million people already,” he said. “So that is 100 million chances for mutation.”

The late-stage trials reported last week by J&J and Novavax could potentially pave the way for them to be authorized for use. J&J’s vaccine offers users a single shot regimen, as opposed to the two-dose versions authorized for Pfizer and Moderna. The drug giant plans to file this week with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for an emergency-use authorization, company officials said. J&J’s top scientist said he expects clearance in March.

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