Every Sunday Dr. Anthony Fauci always makes sure that he delivers his terrifying and fearful message about COVID to the people.
During his COVID briefing, he stated about the new Mu variant that was identified on Tuesday by WHO.
The new Mu variant is a variant of interest. Dr. Fauci and other experts are “looking to see if it becomes more dominant, namely, if the relative proportion of isolates in a given place, including in this country, becomes more,” he said.
In an interview with CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Fauci discussed the “Mu” variant and said although it’s not close to being dominant, laboratory data suggests it could evade some vaccines.
Mu variant of COVID-19 is “not an immediate threat,” Dr. Fauci says, adding health officials are “keeping an eye” on it to “make sure it doesn’t become more dominant. pic.twitter.com/cIDAMiJVdV
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) September 5, 2021
Here’s an excerpt from CBS News transcript:
WEIJIA JIANG: And I know that Delta remains very dominant. But you said this week that you’re also keeping a close eye on the Mu variant. And the World Health Organization has listed it as a variant of interest. What does a close I mean, what are you looking for?
DR. FAUCI: Well, you’re looking to see if it becomes more dominant, namely if the relative proportion of isolates in a given place, including in this country, becomes more. Right now, we’re not seeing that the Delta variant is over 99% dominant. So, when we say we’re keeping an eye on the Mu variant, we want to make sure it doesn’t become more dominant. We actually don’t know what the consequences would be. The concern is that it has a few- a constellation of mutations that would indicate that it might evade the protection from certain antibodies. That’s what we mean when we say we’re keeping an eye on it. But right now, it is not an immediate threat, even though we take all of these variants very seriously.
WEIJIA JIANG: And is there any data available to gauge how effective the vaccine might be against Mu?
DR. FAUCI: Well, no, I don’t think there’s any indication right now because we don’t have enough data, but if you look at the level of antibodies that our vaccines induce, particularly following the boost, I mean, we have data now that when you give a third boost to either the Moderna or to Pfizer, you (AUDIO GLITCH) … that, it’s very effective against any variant that we’ve tested. So that’s the good news about all vaccines. If you get the level of antibody high enough, which boosters actually do? Then you can feel pretty confident that you’re going to be protected against virtually any variant.
WEIJIA JIANG: OK, Dr. Fauci, thank you so much for joining us this morning. And we’re sorry about some of those technical glitches you saw, but we heard you loud and clear. Thanks.
DR. FAUCI: No problem. Thank you.
Sources: The Gateway Pundit, CBS News, Yahoo News
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