Coronavirus: Vaccines appear to protect against B.1.1.7 variant
The three vaccines that have so far won emergency use authorization from the US Food and Drug Administration appear to protect people well against B.1.1.7. Real-life use of the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines indicate that while the B.1.1.7 variant can elude, somewhat, the immune response prompted by immunization, it's not enough to make the vaccines any less effective in protecting people. That's because the vaccines cause a broad immune response so that even if it's a little weakened, it's still powerful enough to prevent serious disease and death. There's less evidence about the vaccine made by Johnson & Johnson's Janssen vaccine arm, although it was tested in the US after B.1.1.7 started circulating. Preliminary evidence suggests that the currently authorized COVID-19 vaccines may provide some protection against a variety of strains, including B.1.1.7 (originally identified in the United Kingdom)," the CDC says in its guidance for fully vaccina...