Scientists are working on new vaccines that will be more effective against emerging strains of the coronavirus, such as the one from South Africa.
Current coronavirus vaccines may be less effective against new variants of the disease but should still prevent serious illness, a senior researcher has said.
Professor Robin Shattock, who is leading Covid-19 vaccine research at Imperial College London, said scientists are working on vaccines which could counter new variants like the one that had emerged in South Africa.
“We can make these vaccines in the lab in a three-week process but then, to actually get them manufactured, that would take two to three months to get to the manufacturing stage and into the clinic,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
“That is still quite fast – and we need to remember that more changes may occur – but these vaccines won’t go from working well to not working at all.”
