Alliance for Pandemic Preparedness

June 7, 2021

2020 SARS-CoV-2 Diversification in the United States Establishing a Pre-Vaccination Baseline

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  • [Pre-print, not peer-reviewed] A study investigating SARS-CoV-2 genetic diversity in the US using sequences publicly available prior to December 15th, 2020, when vaccination was initiated in the U.S., found that the regional distribution of COVID-19 cases varied by pandemic phase and was not always correlated with the level of viral sequencing in different regions. In Phase 1 (winter/spring 2020), sequences were dominated by the D614G spike mutation and by Phase 3 (fall 2020), genetic diversity of the viral population had tripled and at least 54 new amino acid changes had emerged at frequencies above 5%, several of which were within known antibody epitopes. The authors suggest that these findings highlight the need to track the evolution of SARS-CoV-2 variants in the U.S.

Capoferri et al. (June 4, 2021). 2020 SARS-CoV-2 Diversification in the United States Establishing a Pre-Vaccination Baseline. Pre-print downloaded Jun 7 from https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.06.01.21258185