WHO monitors new variant of vaccine-resistant ‘Mu’

The World Health Organization (WHO) has identified a new variant of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, named with the twelfth letter of the Greek alphabet ‘Mu’, also scientifically referred to as B.1.621.

This Colombian variant is similar to the ‘Beta’ variant in that it shows a “reduction in the neutralization capacity of convalescent and vaccinated serums”, so it could reduce the immunity provided by vaccines. However, the organization has indicated that more studies are needed to understand the clinical characteristics of this variant.

The organization is monitoring this new variant that is mainly affecting countries in Latin America and Europe, especially Colombia, where it has been discovered and where it has rapidly expanded, since 4 out of 10 contagions are from this version of the initial Covid-19.

“The ‘Mu’ variant has a group of mutations that indicate potential immune escape properties,” the WHO said this Tuesday in its weekly coronavirus update.

‘Mu’ has been classified as a variant of interest, but not as a worrying variant, since the latter category includes those that pose some type of added risk, such as ‘Alpha’, ‘Beta’, ‘Gamma’ or ‘Delta’.