When the UK introduced the second vaccine against coronavirus disease (Covid-19) on Monday, a leading Oxford scientist said there was a ‘big question mark’ surrounding the effectiveness of vaccines on the South African variant of SARS-CoV-2. The new Covid-19 strain, dubbed 20C / 501Y.V2, has caused a rapid rise in coronavirus cases in South Africa and two cases of the variant were also discovered in the UK on December 23.
Sir John Bell, an Oxford professor who is working with the British government on its vaccine program, told Times Radio that there is no data to indicate that the South African variety is more deadly than the one that originated in Britain, but he was concerned about the mutations in the former. Bell said a team of researchers is looking at how currently available vaccines could address the virus variants.
“There is still research to be done, but if you want my gut feeling I think the vaccine will be effective against the Kent tribe and I don’t know about the South African tribe. I think there is a big question mark about that, ”said the professor.
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The South African variant was first identified in Nelson Mandela Bay in samples dating from early October 2020, and the variant was also identified in Zambia in late December 2020. Bell believed that the highly transferable mutations are unlikely to “turn off the effect.” of vaccines completely. “
“We have a little bit of headroom because the vaccines, I think, work a lot better than we thought they would,” he said. “We do have some room for maneuver. If they were 20% less effective because of a mutation, we would still have good vaccines. “
British Health Secretary Matt Hancock has said he is “incredibly concerned about the South African strain” of the coronavirus, calling it “even more of a problem” than the new British strain. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there is no evidence that the South African variant has any influence on the severity of the disease or the efficacy of the vaccine.