European Union experts believe existing vaccines against coronavirus are effective against the new fast-spreading strain identified in Britain, Germany's health minister said Sunday.
"According to everything we know so far" the new strain "has no impact on the vaccines," which remain "just as effective," Jens Spahn told public broadcaster ZDF, citing "talks between experts at European authorities."
Chief advisor to the United States’ Operation Warp Speed vaccine program Moncef Slaoui previously said that at the moment no strain of the virus appears to be resistant to the vaccines available.
Simon Clarke, Associate Professor in Cellular Microbiology at the University of Reading, told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that the mutations affect the "spike protein" that studs the virus and is targeted by vaccines.
"If we look at the changes that those mutations make to the spike protein, which is the target for the vaccine, then we don't think they are sufficient enough to change the effectiveness of the vaccine," he said.
The United Kingdom has sounded the alarm for a new COVID-19 strain that is 70% more transmissible than other existing variants prompting many countries to stop travel to the island.
