“As a country, we need genomic surveillance,” of SARS-COV-2, “It needs a federal mandate.” The virus will mutate beyond the control of vaccines.

The US has failed to perform genomic surveillance of the SARS-COV-2 pandemic, despite having one of the worst infections of any country in the world by the numbers. Less than 0.4% of SARS-COV-2 infections documented by PCR have had genomic sequencing in this country. Britain has had more than 7% of its infections sequenced. As a result, the British have been able to identify a new and dangerous mutation known as B.1.1.7, a variant that is more than 50% more contagious than the original virus.

See the New York Times article today, January 6, for details of the American virus sequencing deficiency. It is alarming– or prophetic of doom if we do not act now– the federal government must start sequencing at speed.

If we do not get this virus under control quickly, the mutations will soon cause it to escape the vaccines. If that happens, we will have to start all over again with new vaccines– this time against multiple variants of the virus. A return to normalcy could soon be simply an illusion.

(SARS-COV-2 electron microscopic photo courtesy NIAID)