When the UK launched the second vaccine against coronavirus disease (Covid-19) on Monday, a leading Oxford scientist said there was a “big question” about the effectiveness of vaccines in the South African variant. of the SARS-CoV- 2. The new Covid-19 strain, called 20C / 501Y.V2, has caused a rapid increase in coronavirus cases in South Africa and two cases of the variant were also discovered in the United Kingdom on 23 December.
Sir John Bell, an Oxford professor working with the UK government on its vaccination program, told Times Radio that there is no evidence that the South African variant is more deadly than it originated. in Britain, though he was concerned about the mutations of the former. Bell said a team of researchers is studying how currently available vaccines could deal with variants of the virus.
“There is still research to be done, but if you want to have a gut feeling, I think the vaccine will be effective against the Kent strain and I don’t know about the South African strain. I think there is a big question mark about that,” he said. the teacher.
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The South African variant was first identified in Nelson Mandela Bay in samples dating back to early October 2020 and the variant was also identified in Zambia in late December 2020. Bell opined that it is highly transmissible mutations are unlikely to “deactivate the effect”. of vaccines completely “.
“We have a bit of room for vaccines to work, I think, much better than anyone thought they would work,” he said. “We have room for maneuver. If they worked 20% less well due to a mutation, we would still have good vaccines.
UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock has said he is “incredibly concerned about the South African variant” of the coronavirus, and considers it “even more of a problem” than the new British strain. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there is no evidence to indicate that the South African variant has any impact on the severity of the disease or the effectiveness of the vaccine.