The Indian variant of COVID-19 appears to be circulating in Bloomington-Normal Illinois and health officials are worried.
On May 4, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention designated B.1.617 as a variant of interest. Six days later, it reclassified the highly contagious variant as a “variant of concern,” to suggest that it had become a global health threat.
Federal Health officials are increasing surveillance of the highly transmissible Covid-19 variant first identified in India, known as B.1.617. Health experts have warned that under-vaccinated areas in the U.S. could have outbreaks of the mutated virus. Although only around 1 percent of samples tested are identified as the B.1.617, this is believed to be an underestimate due to the small number of cases that are typed nationally.
It is also unclear how fast the variant might be growing in the U.S. population. It is believed to be at least 50 percent more transmissible than the variant that originated in the U.K. which has been found to spread 50 to 74 percent faster than other strains. The U.K. version was first seen in the U.S. in December and quickly became the dominant strain nationally.
The fast transmission of the Indian mutation is of particular concern because the strain has begun to spread in the U.S. just when pandemic measures are loosening and around 60 percent of the population isn’t yet fully vaccinated.
B.1.617 Variant Found in Bloomington-Normal Illinois
Now the Indian strain of the coronavirus has been found in Bloomington-Normal Illinois. Reditus labs, based in Pekin, Illinois has discovered the B.1.617 variant of the coronavirus in tested samples from Bloomington-Normal. The laboratory tests nasal samples from all over the country.
Reditus said in the latest batch of 371 randomly selected positive samples there was a case of the B.1.617 Indian double mutant variant. A spokesperson for the lab said that the B.1.617 variant is potentially more dangerous than previous strains of the virus. It could also have some resistance to COVID-19 vaccines.
This is far from the first variant that has been identified in the central Illinois area. In fact, COVID-19 variants have become increasingly common in central Illinois. Out of 371 positive COVID-19 samples recently sequenced at Reditus Laboratories, 344 or 93 percent were variants; 178 were the UK variant, five were the South African variant, seven were the Santa Clara variant, 153 were the Brazilian variant, and one was the Indian double mutant variant.
Effectiveness of the Vaccines for the B.1.617 Variant
Reports have said that two doses of either the Pfizer or AstraZeneca vaccine are effective at protecting the recipient against the Indian variant as they are against the UK variant. However, a study conducted by Public Health England showed that both vaccines were only 33 percent effective against the Indian variant three weeks after the first dose while they were 50 percent effectiveness against the UK variant. That compares to 80 percent effectiveness for Pfizer after the first dose and 70 percent effectiveness for
The Pfizer vaccine was found to be 88 percent effective at stopping symptomatic disease from the Indian variant two weeks after the second dose, compared with 93 percent effectiveness against the Kent variant. The Pfizer vaccine was found to be 95 percent effective 28 days after the second dose,
The AstraZeneca vacine was 60 percent effective against the Indian variant two weeks after the second dose, compared with 66 percent against the UK varian. and 76 percent effective after the second dose against the original strain.
There is no data comparing the effectiveness of Moderna for the B.1.617 variant to other variants or the original virus as Moderna has declined to send its vaccine to India.
Not Enough People in Central Illinois Getting Vaccinated
To date, reports suggest that it appears that vaccines supply some protection against the Indian variant. However, the concern is that not enough people in central Illinois have been vaccinated to date. According to Dr. Douglas Kasper, section head of infectious disease at the University of Illinois College of Medicine Peoria:
"The vaccine is widely available throughout the US, is not of significant cost or is free, and with all of that, the Tri-County fully vaccinated rate remains under 40 percent. That, of everything we are talking about, is the most troubling to me at this point."