A variant of the virus that causes COVID-19 and is spreading in South America is not a problem for the United States right now, a top health official said Thursday. The “Mu” variant, formally B.1.621, was classified as a variant of interest by the United Nations’ World Health Organization (WHO) this week. It was first detected in Colombia in January. Since then, some larger outbreaks have been reported in South America and in Europe. Early data indicate that it could cause a reduction in protection from COVID-19 vaccines, “but this needs to be confirmed by further studies,” WHO said in its weekly epidemiological report on COVID-19, the disease caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus. U.S. officials are aware of the variant and “keeping a close eye on it,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, told reporters in a virtual briefing on Thursday. But the variant is not close to becoming prevalent in the United …