Researchers are concerned about reports from Britain and South Africa of new COVID-19 strains that seem to spread more easily. "I mean what if the virus is just spreading faster because people are being less careful and going to parties? It's a correlation, it's not a cause and effect observation," Dr. Weiss said. She also thinks it's highly unlikely the variant will significantly affect the vaccine because the vaccine develops antibodies against multiple parts of what's known as the spike protein on the virus, not just this mutated part. Still vaccine makers Pfizer and Moderna are putting it to the test. "It's a good thing to do but I am sure they're pretty confident it's not going to show anything different," she said.