US Records Cases Of New Delta-Related Ay4.2 Variant, But Not In Any Clusters - CDC

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has identified the new AY4.2 mutation of the Delta COVID-19 variant, but not in any clusters, with Delta continuing to be a predominant strain in the country, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said on Wednesday

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 20th October, 2021) The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has identified the new AY4.2 mutation of the Delta COVID-19 variant, but not in any clusters, with Delta continuing to be a predominant strain in the country, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said on Wednesday.

"In the United States, Delta (variant) remains the dominant variant with more than 99.7 percent of sequence cases in the country being caused by Delta," Walensky said at a press briefing. "AY4.2 is a sub lineage of the Delta variant that has been recently identified in the UK, and we have on occasion identified this sub lineage here in the United States, but not with recent increased frequency or clustering to date.

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Walensky added that so far there is no evidence AY4.2 somehow impacts effectiveness of the authorized vaccines or therapeutics, with the CDC continuing to study the incoming data.

During the briefing, White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator Jeffrey Zients said that the administration is getting ready to inoculate nearly 28 million of US kids aged 5-11 after the food and Drug Administration's authorization, which is expected to be issued in the next two weeks.