Experts: Vaccines likely to be effective against new COVID-19 variants
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Experts say that currently approved COVID-19 vaccines, which are being distributed in the United States and around the world, are likely to remain effective as new strains of the coronavirus emerge. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo
Everyone has heard the scary reports about the new, more infectious coronavirus variants that are circulating in countries around the world, but scientists aren t pushing the panic button at this point.
Why? Because the new COVID-19 vaccines should still work on these viral interlopers.
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Luckily, the new variants still rely on the coronavirus spike protein to infect cells, and the two COVID vaccines now on the U.S. market specifically target the spike protein to prevent transmission, explained Dr. Kathryn Edwards, scientific director of the Vanderbilt University Vaccine Research Program in Nashville.