What do we know about the Covid variant called mu? Elizabeth Tracey reports

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Mu is just the latest Covid-19 variant that’s drawing the attention of many, with potentially worrisome mutations that may predict how infectious it might be.  Anna Durbin, an infectious disease expert at Johns Hopkins, says current vaccines should still provide pretty good protection against mu.

Durbin: We know that with mu the antibody responses are similar to beta. Meaning that the antibodies don’t work as well against mu just like they did not work as well against beta. That being said however, we know that people who were vaccinated, part of clinical trials in South Africa where the beta variant was spreading, efficacy against infection was lower, so about 65%, but the efficacy against severe disease and hospitalization was about 95%.   :29

Durbin says that while the best case is being able to avoid infection entirely, avoiding severe disease and staying out of the hospital are very good outcomes. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.