Dr. Kirsty Short, a virologist and senior lecturer at
“Recent phase 2/3 data from both Novavax and Johnson & Johnson suggest reduced protection against the South African variant,” Dr. Short reports.
“The Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine group also released data suggesting its vaccine offers only minimal protection against mild-moderate disease caused by this variant.”
“It’s important to recognize ‘reduced protection’ doesn’t mean
no protection at all, and that data are still emerging” and
“What’s more, numerous vaccine manufacturers are now investigating whether tweaks to the vaccines can improve their performance against the emerging variants,” added Dr. Short.
Dr. Kirsty Short, a virologist and senior lecturer at The University of Queensland
NurPhoto via Getty Images
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said this week it had designated a coronavirus variant first seen in India as a “variant of interest,” adding it to the growing collection of viral variants it’s keeping an eye on.
Vaccine makers are so worried about the chance new variants will escape the protection offered by immunization that they are already testing booster shots and tweaking their vaccine formulas to specifically target some of the more troubling variants.
And doctors around the world are warning that even more variants will arise as the virus continues to evolve inside the bodies of the tens of millions of people it is infecting.
Coronavirus variants: What we know so far cnn.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from cnn.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said this week it had designated a coronavirus variant first seen in India as a variant of interest, adding it to the growing collection of viral variants it s keeping an eye on.
Vaccine makers are so worried about the chance new variants will escape the protection offered by immunization that they are already testing booster shots and tweaking their vaccine formulas to specifically target some of the more troubling variants.
And doctors around the world are warning that even more variants will arise as the virus continues to evolve inside the bodies of the tens of millions of people it is infecting.
Here’s what known about the coronavirus variants
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said this week it had designated a coronavirus variant first seen in India as a “variant of interest,” adding it to the growing collection of viral variants it’s keeping an eye on.
Vaccine makers are so worried about the chance new variants will escape the protection offered by immunization that they are already testing booster shots and tweaking their vaccine formulas to specifically target some of the more troubling variants.
And doctors around the world are warning that even more variants will arise as the virus continues to evolve inside the bodies of the tens of millions of people it is infecting.