Do vaccines provide protection against COVID-19 variants?
A variant is a genome that differs in sequencing whereas mutation is the actual change in sequence. Two variants can differ by 1 mutation or many. A variant is a strain when it has a demonstrably different phenotype (e.g. a difference in antigenicity, transmissibility, or virulence).
Two specific variants have been identified in the UK and South Africa. These variants have one change in common, which is called N501Y mutation. However, the two are different. The reason for concern is that both of these variants spread faster and are more infectious hence the increase in the number of cases in both countries. However, they don't seem to cause more severe illness or a higher death rate or any different clinical manifestations.
Vaccine developers are very mindful of variants. For SARS-CoV-2, scientists are still learning and observing with knowledge that keeps evolving. Most scientists believe that the vaccines currently in development and the ones that have been approved should protect against this variant and other variants because vaccines elicit a fairly broad immune response, a host of antibodies and cell-mediated immune responses. Therefore, a couple of changes or mutations in the virus should not make these vaccines ineffective. But right now studies are going on in labs around the world to confirm that.
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