Vaccines
may protect against severe disease even as variants evolve, Oxford's
Pollard says
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[February 03, 2021]
LONDON (Reuters) - COVID-19 vaccines might
offer protection against severe disease even as coronavirus variants
evolve to better allow continued transmission between people, the head
of the Oxford Vaccine Group Andrew Pollard said on Wednesday.
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Asked
how effective the Oxford/AstraZeneca will be against new variants,
he said "they are making changes that allow them to avoid human
immune responses, so that they can still transmit."
"So, that does mean that it's likely over time that the virus will
find ways of adapting so that can continue to pass between people,"
he told BBC TV.
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"But that doesn't mean that we won't still have protection against
severe disease... The virus is much more about the virus being able
to continue to survive, rather than trying to cause harm to us."
(Reporting by Alistair Smout; Editing by Kate Holton)
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