Researcher Confident Vaccines Can Be Adapted to Protect Against Future Virus Strains

CNBC reports that Oxford University Professor Sir John Bell feels confident that COVID-19 vaccines could be adapted to protect against future coronavirus strains. "This is going to be a game of cat and mouse now," he admitted. The U.K. government granted emergency use authorization for Oxford and AstraZeneca's vaccine on Wednesday, after issuing limited clearance to Pfizer and BioNTech's vaccine. Studies are underway to ascertain officially whether the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine protects against the new strain widely circulating in Britain. "We think they probably can, but we just want to be absolutely sure," Bell said. He added that "we're going to have lots of examples of people who have had the vaccine who get exposed to the virus, and we'll be able to tell pretty quickly about whether the vaccine is indeed protective against that strain." Meanwhile, a separate variant found in South Africa has gained notice, while officials at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it may also be circulating in America. "If we have to make new vaccines, we can make them now that we've done the initial work," Bell stated.