LONDON — Existing vaccines may protect against the Brazilian variant of the coronavirus, according to a University of Oxford study which also highlighted how a variant first found in South Africa poses the biggest headache for vaccine makers.
Coronavirus variants with specific mutations to the spike protein are of concern because scientists worry they will reduce the efficacy of vaccines, as well as immunity gained from prior infection.
The scientists used blood samples from people with antibodies generated by both COVID-19 infection and the Oxford/AstraZeneca and Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines that are being rolled out in Britain.
The data showed a nearly three-fold reduction i…
Keep on reading: Existing COVID vaccines may protect against Brazilian variant – Oxford study