UK insists AstraZeneca vaccine is effective against South African variant of Covid – BBC News

There’s been a concerted effort by the UK government and its scientific advisers to reassure people about the efficacy of its vaccination programme.

It follows growing concern about the performance of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine against the South African variant of the virus.

Boris Johnson said he was “very confident” that current vaccines delivered a high degree of protection against serious illness.

Professor Jonathan Van-Tam, England’s Deputy Chief Medical Officer, said it was unlikely the South African variant would become dominant in the UK, at least in the short term.

New vaccines are already in development to protect against the new South African variant of the disease.

Hugh Edwards presents BBC News at Ten reporting by medical editor Fergus Walsh and science editor David Shukman.

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