Experts says COVID-19 vaccines effective despite virus mutations

Moscow [Russia], July 3 (ANI): Coronavirus vaccines remain effective in spite of the virus mutations, said an official of the St. Petersburg Pasteur Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology on Friday.

TASS reported quoting, deputy director of the St. Petersburg Pasteur Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, Vladimir Dedkov that in spite of the virus mutations COVID-19 vaccines remain effective.

“The safety margin of the vaccines is such that, in principle, it will not have any significant effect. Therefore, despite the fact that the genome of the virus is changing, vaccines still remain effective,” Dedkov said on Friday.

According to him, changes in the coronavirus genome structure “do not dramatically affect the antigenic structure.”

According to the latest statistics, about 183 million people have been infected with coronavirus worldwide and more than 3.9 million deaths have been reported.

As per TASS calculations which is based on the key figures of the pandemic for the past month. The number of confirmed novel coronavirus cases reported worldwide in July dropped 1.5 times as compared to June, to levels observed in October 2020.

Overall, 11.2 million confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus were registered on the planet in June, compared to 18.4 million cases in May. The number of active cases currently stands at 11 million, which is among the lowest monthly figures in 2021.

However, COVID-19 mortality continues to grow and is about to reach peak figures recorded this January, when the disease claimed over 400,000 lives all over the globe in just one month. June’s mortality is slightly below this peak, with some 382,000 deaths reported worldwide, a 10 per cent increase since May. (ANI)