Will COVID-19 vaccines work on the new variant of the coronavirus?
Experts believe so, but are working to confirm it.
A variant of the coronavirus in the UK has caused an alarm due to the possibility of it spreading more easily. But even if this is true, experts say the COVID-19 vaccines that are being rolled out will likely still work in the variant.
Dr Anthony Fauci, the top US infectious disease expert, said data from Britain indicates that vaccines will still block the virus. But the United States will also test to be safe.
Viruses usually undergo small changes as they reproduce and move through a population. In fact, slight modifications are how scientists track the spread of a virus from one place to another.
But if a virus mutates significantly enough, it worries that current vaccines will stop offering so much protection. And while this is a possibility to look at over time with coronavirus, experts say they don’t think that will be the case for the variant in the UK.
“My expectation is that this will not be a problem,” said Moncef Slaoui, the U.S. government’s chief scientific adviser for the COVID-19 vaccine.
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