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LONDON, Feb 9 (Reuters) - It is not yet clear whether or not
the world needs a new set of vaccines to fight different
variants of the novel coronavirus but scientists are working on
new ones so there is no reason for alarm, the head of the Oxford
Vaccine Group said on Tuesday.
"There are definitely new questions about variants that
we're going to be addressing. And one of those is: do we need
new vaccines?," Andrew Pollard, Chief Investigator on the Oxford
vaccine trial, told BBC radio.
"I think the jury is out on that at the moment, but all
developers are preparing new vaccines so if we do need them,
we'll have them available to be able to protect people."
Pollard's team developed the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine.
South Africa paused a planned rollout of AstraZeneca's
COVID-19 vaccinations after data showed it gave minimal
protection against mild infection from one variant, stoking
fears of a much longer cat-and-mouse battle with the pathogen.
Researchers from the University of Witwatersrand and the
University of Oxford said in a prior-to-peer analysis that the
AstraZeneca vaccine provided minimal protection against mild or
moderate infection from the South African variant among young
people.
"I think there's clearly a risk of confidence in the way
that people may perceive you. But as I say I don't think that
there is any reason for alarm today," Pollard said.
(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge and Kate Holton)
