United KingdomUK increasingly confident that vaccines work against Indian variant Alistair Smout 1/2 A sign directing people to a testing station, amid the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Bolton, Britain, May 16, 2021. REUTERS/Phil Noble Read More Britain is increasingly confident that vaccines work against the coronavirus variant first found in India, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Wednesday, with a leading epidemiologistsaying it may be spreading less quickly than at first feared. Johnson has warned that the emergence of the B.1.617.2 variant might derail his plans to lift England's lockdown fully on June 21, but on Wednesday he said the latest data had been encouraging.