The South African variant of the coronavirus could evade vaccines, a scientist involved with the Oxford jab has warned.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said he was “incredibly worried” about the South African variant after the intervention by vaccine leader Sir John Bell.
A small number of cases of the more contagious African variant have made it in to the UK which is currently battling a huge surge in its own variant which developed in South East England.
Sir John, regius professor of medicine at Oxford, said that of the two, “I would worry a lot about the South African strain.
“The mutations associated with the South African form are really pretty substantial changes in the structure of the protein.
“My gut feeling is the vaccine will be still effective against the Kent strain. I don’t know about the South African strain - there’s a big question mark about that.”
Incoming flights were cancelled from South Africa after the Government detected cases of the South African variant already in the UK.
Mr Hancock said the variant was a “very significant problem”, adding: “I’m incredibly worried about the South African variant, and that’s why we took the action that we did to restrict all flights from South Africa.
“This is a very, very significant problem... even more of a problem than the UK new variant.”
If the virus does change, then it should be possible to tweak the vaccines without going through full regulatory approval. Sir John estimated that would take a month to six weeks.
Sir John, who sits on the Government’s vaccine taskforce, told the Times: that this was to be expected and that manufacturers had anticipated it. “Everyone should stay calm. It’s going to be fine.
“We’re now in a game of cat and mouse. These are not the only two variants we will see. We are going to see lots of variants.”
