US officials monitor new Covid-19 strain as UK flights continue

Chief adviser to the US vaccine effort says shots are likely to work against the new strain too

Admiral Brett Giroir, US assistant secretary for health, speaks during an Operation Warp Speed vaccine summit at the White House in Washington, DC. Bloomberg

US authorities are looking "very carefully" into the virus variant spreading in the United Kingdom, top health officials said on Sunday, while indicating that a ban on UK travel was not currently in the cards.

This particular variant in the UK is very unlikely to have escaped the vaccine immunity

The news came as a US expert panel recommended those 75 and older should be the next vaccinated against the virus, along with 30 million "frontline essential workers", including teachers, grocery store employees and police.

Addressing the virus variant, Moncef Slaoui, chief adviser to the government's Operation Warp Speed vaccine programme, told CNN's State of the Union that US officials "don't know yet" if it is present in the country.

"We are, of course... looking very carefully into this," including at the National Institutes of Health and the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), he said.

At the moment, he said, no strain of the virus appears to be resistant to the vaccines available.

"This particular variant in the UK, I think, is very unlikely to have escaped the vaccine immunity," Mr Slaoui said.

"I don't think there's any reason for alarm right now," agreed Admiral Brett Giroir, the US official supervising coronavirus testing, when asked about the new variant on ABC's The Week.

Asked whether the US was likely to follow the example of European countries that have suspended flights from the UK, Admiral Giroir replied: "I really don't believe we need to do that yet".

Nearly eight million more Covid-19 vaccine doses are to be shipped across the United States on Monday, Mr Slaoui told CNN – two million of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine and 5.9 million of the Moderna shot that was given the greenlight on Friday.

The first Moderna shot was "most likely to be tomorrow morning", he said.

The CDC said 2.8 million vaccine doses were distributed over the past week, while 556,208 doses were administered.

While Vice President Mike Pence has done so publicly, and President-elect Joe Biden is to do so Monday, President Donald Trump has so far not indicated he will take the vaccine any time soon.

With vaccine scepticism a concern, Admiral Giroir encouraged Mr Trump to do so for his own health, "and also to generate more confidence among the people who follow him so closely".

More than 316,000 people have been killed by Covid-19 in the US, with new daily infections regularly topping 200,000 and deaths hovering at about 3,000 people every 24 hours.

With vaccines on the move there is light at the end of the tunnel – but Mr Slaoui  said the situation would "get worse" before it got better, citing a surge after Thanksgiving and the coming year-end holidays.

Later in the day, a CDC advisory panel voted to recommend which groups should be in the second phase of vaccinations after initial doses focused on frontline healthcare workers and the elderly in nursing homes.

Kentucky State Police escort a UPS truck carrying Moderna's Covid-19 vaccine as it arrives at UPS Worldport, in Louisville, Kentucky, December 20, 2020. Reuters

It recommended "frontline essential workers" along with those obove the age of 75.

The panel estimates there are about 30 million people in the frontline essential workers category, ranging from teachers to postal workers, police and firefighters.

A following phase would get those between 65 and 74 years of age along with other essential workers vaccinated, according to the recommendations.

The CDC will later decide whether to adopt the recommendations, while individual states can ultimately choose how to distribute their shots.