New COVID-19 Strain Confirmed In LA County May Be Vaccine Resistant
As coronavirus cases surpass one million in LA County, it’s reported that a new COVID-19 strain has been confirmed in the region and it may be vaccine resistant.
Just two days after the Los Angeles Public Health Department revealed that the first-identified U.K. variant of COVID-19, known as B.1.1.7, has been identified in the area, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) followed with an announcement that another lesser-known strain had been circulating the county as well.
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It’s known as L452R, which was first identified in Denmark last March, and has been in California as early as May 2020. Per CDPH, Santa Clara County has specifically seen a large number of positive specimens collected from community testing sites and outbreaks in the county. Furthermore, officials say since L452R affects the spike protein of the virus, there’s a chance the currently-developed vaccines, now being rolled out, will be less effective against it.
It’s reported that the current vaccines, which inhibit connections between the spike proteins of the virus and infected cells, will be no match for L452R, which has “decreased sensitivity to neutralizing mAbs (monoclonal antibodies).”
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