Uh oh: “The most important site is E484, where neutralization by some sera is reduced >10-fold by several mutations, including one in emerging viral lineages in South Africa and Brazil.”
https://twitter.com/jbloom_lab/status/1346442000472580098
The South African variant has both E484K and N501Y, so the concerns from the last few weeks are more justified now. What will the combination of the higher viral loads associated with N501Y — if that holds — mean when neutralization dips because of E484K escape? Not liking this.
We’re already seeing that experiment play out in South Africa. We’ll know more about vaccine efficacy soon, but I imagine the first immune escape alarm would be a rise in re-infections among those exposed to prior lineages. We shouldn’t wait around for that data...
Also of more concern now is the efficacy of monoclonal antibody therapies. The Regeneron cocktail may not be as effective for these RBD mutations; they may have to go back to the drawing board to find more & update the cocktail. That will take more time than mRNA updates.
Keep in mind that we still don’t have a great idea of the mechanism causing all of these mutations. If it’s therapies, are mAbs cocktails helping or hurting the path to eradication? The hard decisions we have to make are getting harder with the chaotic science amidst a 💉 rollout
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