10:55 p.m. ET, January 25, 2021
Variant first spotted in Brazil might become "more dominant," Fauci says
From CNN Health Andrea Diaz
Dr. Anthony Fauci.
Source: CNN
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and chief medical advisor to the President, said the new variant of coronavirus called P.1 identified in Minnesota in someone who had recently traveled from Brazil, could become "more dominant."
"If it has the capability of spreading more efficiently, likely it might actually get more and more dominant, but we have to wait and see," Fauci told CNN's Erin Burnett Monday night.
Additionally, Fauci said that they are paying close attention to this new variant as well as to the strain also recently found in California.
"Up until recently, we haven't had a comprehensive genomic surveillance, which the CDC is really increasing together with a little bit of collaboration, in fact, a lot of collaboration with the NIH, that will get a much better feel for what is circulating in our own country," said Fauci.
Vaccines vs. variants: Current vaccines for Covid-19 that are currently being administered are likely to be effective against the new variants, Fauci said.
"The good news is the vaccines as they exist now still would be effective against the mutants. The sobering news ... as you get more and more replication, you can get more and more of evolution of mutants, which means you always got to be a step ahead of it," Fauci said.
Fauci said the antibodies that are induced by both the Moderna and the Pfizer vaccine seem to be effective in blocking the variant first found in the UK. He said the evidence also indicates vaccines will protect people against infection with variants first spotted in South Africa and Brazil.
"When you're dealing with South Africa and Brazil -- but mostly South Africa, we haven't looked at Brazil as carefully as South Africa -- although it's been diminished somewhat it's still well within the cushion range of being an effective vaccine," Fauci said.
Additionally, Fauci said surveillance needs to increase so that scientists can stay on top of mutations in the virus.
CNN's Erin Burnett speaks with Dr. Anthony Fauci: