Antibodies produced from infection with SARS-CoV-2 501Y.V2 protect against other variants As the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic continues to claim thousands of lives daily around the world, the pathogen responsible for it, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), continues to undergo mutational changes. A recent paper in the journal Nature shows that while earlier lineages do not elicit antibodies capable of efficiently neutralizing the newly emerged South African variant, SARS-CoV-2 501Y.V2 (B.1.351), the converse does occur. The SARS-CoV-2 501Y.V2 variant The constant occurrence of mutations in the various regions of the viral genome has led to the emergence of a multitude of variants, some of which have become global variants of concern (VOCs).