The B.1.617 variant, nicknamed the “Indian” variant, created a media frenzy, not without slippages quickly denounced. Are we rightly worried about this newcomer? Experts take stock of the true nature of variants.
Should we be worried about the arrival in Quebec of the very last Indian variant?
Dr Raymond Tellier, microbiologist-infectious disease specialist and associate professor in the Department of Medicine at McGill University Since the start of the pandemic, the virus has undergone thousands of mutations, most of them silent. One should not focus on the place of origin and the name given to the variants, which are not of interest, but rather on the dangerous mutations which cause problems and modify the behavior of the virus. There will be other variants, this is not the last! It remains to be seen what will happen when this last variant meets another more contagious. Who will win, we don’t know!
Dr Gaston De Serres, medical consultant at the National Institute of Public Health of Quebec Variants are and will be the reality of 2021. There will be more and more of them. This virus is constantly mutating and other strains will continually appear all over the world. Everything that is happening here is already due to variants. All interventions are already in intensified mode: schools are closed more quickly. For the moment, the “British” variant remains largely predominant.
Benoit Barbeau, virologist, Department of Biological Sciences at UQAM We must stop panicking with variants. Viruses mutate, it is in the very nature of things. We even see that there are convergences in the mutations, the same ones emerging on different continents. The more pressure is put on the virus with vaccines, the more there seems to be a funnel effect. Over time, the virus’s ability to adapt may begin to decline.
What do we really know about the B.1.617 variant, nicknamed the “Indian” variant?
R. T. It is certainly a variant which requires to remain vigilant, but it does not have the scientifically established virulence of the other three under enhanced surveillance: the British, South African and Brazilian variants, all proven to be more contagious, especially in experiments. in vitro. With them, there is no room for error.
G. S. We must not be distraught by this. This variant is already in 20 countries. If what we observe in India seems worrying, the capacity of this variant to escape the vaccine or to be more contagious or to make more sick has not yet been demonstrated.
Should we suspend flights from India, as demanded by François Legault and other provincial premiers?
B. B. When we detect a variant in our territory, it is already too late! It works when the variants are still missing. We have seen it with the British or South African variant, which has spread to Europe, despite border restrictions. This shows the extent to which each country must equip itself with enhanced variant detection capacities. Indeed, others will continue to emerge, at home and in other countries. Are we going to block all the flights? The best protection would be for vaccines to be more quickly available anywhere in the world, not just here, before other mutations develop.
R. T. It is very difficult to close the borders. Efficiency does not always justify the price. We must rather adapt our strategies and treat these variants as epidemics within the epidemic, as Public Health has done so far, by further isolating the cases, by carrying out targeted vaccinations. By containing the variant, until as many people as possible are vaccinated.
Why do we make so much of the “Indian” variant?
B. B. Because two mutations on its spicule are found at the same positions as those observed in the Brazilian (P.1) and South African (P.1.351) variants, i.e. position E484Q, and the Californian variant (P.1.425), at the position 425, key positions that confer an ability to better bypass the immune system. That’s why he was called the double mutant.
R. T. It actually has 15 different mutations, including these two that could be annoying. But nothing yet indicates that it is more contagious or more deadly. As soon as a variant is associated with an outbreak it is said to be more contagious, but sometimes it just takes advantage of a large network of well-connected people, like in India. The variant may have just benefited from the lifting of containment, religious holidays and other events that are superpropagators.
Since it has already taken root in Quebec, how to avoid its spread?
G. S. By continuing to watch him closely. Otherwise, it does not change the prevention strategies and current health measures. As we have seen in Abitibi, with the South African variant, or elsewhere, with other variants, the same health strategies are applied.
R. T. It will require some vigilance, but the three others already present (British, South African and Brazilian) who have an established virulence worry me more. We already have a screening strategy that allows us to have good control of the situation and to initiate additional investigations.
Should we fear that the variants will one day bypass vaccines?
R. T. The good news so far is that none of the variants, even those under enhanced surveillance, are completely immune to current vaccines. Some vaccines seem to generate fewer neutralizing antibodies compared to the variants seen in Brazil and South Africa, but these are not the only defense mechanisms of our immune system. Vaccines are also not 100% effective. So if people are infected, it is not necessarily because the variant escapes the vaccine.
B. B. We now know that we can adapt the vaccines to the variants. Changes are already underway. We have four super performing vaccines and there are technological platforms that can quickly adapt to the emergence of variants. The question that remains open is not so much to adapt the vaccines to the variants, but how long the immunity they confer will last.
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