Some scientists are worried that the present COVID-19 vaccines might not work in the new strain of the virus that has significantly attributed to the spike of cases in other countries.

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The new strain of COVID-19, which has been linked to the increase of virus infections in the United Kingdom and South Africa, is still baffling some scientists. They said that the newly developed COVID-19 vaccines might not work in this strain. 

New COVID-19 strain is more infectious

Report on the new strain of COVID-19 has made headlines in the past few days. This led other countries to ban travels to and from the country where it was first detected, in the United Kingdom. British prime minister Boris Johnson already announced that the new strain of COVID-19 might be spreading more rapidly. 

According to BGR, Boris said that they have been following the new strain called B.1.1.7 since September and they found out that the virus seems to be more infectious. This means that it is highly transmissible compared to the present strain that infects millions around the world. 

In fact, many of the European countries have already closed their borders with the UK including travel from and to the country. This is despite the fact that the new strain has already been found in the Netherlands and elsewhere. If this will not be done, this could overwhelm again a country's healthcare system. 

Meanwhile, Dr. Anthony Fauci and other health experts said that there is a need for more data and suggested that the world should not overreact about the news. He also advised that a travel ban to and from the UK should not be banned but other precautions can be used like the COVID-19 test. 

Read also: COVID-19: Does Virus Mutation Weaken Vaccine Efficacy? 

Will the COVID-19 Vaccines Work Against the New Strain?

Even though vaccine developers Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna said that their newly approved drugs are highly likely to work against the new strain but they also admitted that more tests are required before they will know if the vaccines really work. 

Some of the geneticists are worried that the vaccines might not work as well against the B.1.1.7 strain as they do on the more prevalent SARS-CoV-2 strains. Michael Worobey told CNN, "This is the first variant I've seen during the whole pandemic where I took a step back and said: 'Whoa.'"

Worobey is a biologist at the University of Arizona who has seen more than 100,000 strains of the virus. Other scientists also think that there is a possibility that B.1.1.7 might outsmart vaccines. He also added, "This is the first variant I've seen where I think there is this burning question."

Trevor Bedford, associate professor in the vaccine and infectious disease division of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, also explained: "It might decrease vaccine efficacy from 95% to something like 80% or 85%. It would be a modest effect, not a dramatic effect."

Read also: New Strain of COVID-19 Seems to be More Dangerous and Infectious