South Africa testing whether vaccines work against its variant

Scientists in South Africa are urgently testing to see if the vaccines for COVID-19 will be effective against the country s variant virus. The genomic studies come as Britain’s health minister, Matt Hancock and other experts in the U.K. have said they worry that vaccines may not be effective against the South African variant. “This is the most pressing question facing us right now,” said Dr. Richard Lessells, an infectious diseases expert who is working on the country's genomic studies of the variant. “We are urgently doing experiments in the laboratory to test the variant,' against the blood of people with antibodies and against the blood of people who have received vaccines, Lessells told The Associated Press Monday.