UK Steps Up Search For Vaccines Against ‘Variants Of Concern’

Study Also To Begin On Different Third 'Booster' Dose

As the World Health Organization brands the Indian virus a “variant of concern,” the UK is planning to use a lab-grown virus variant in challenge trials of current and new vaccines, and is also investing in new variant vaccine testing facilities. A new study will use Oxford Immunotec’s T cell test to monitor people’s immunological response to infection or vaccination.

Covid India and indian variant isolated on white background, covid-19 virus with flag. — The Indian variant virus is the latest to cause concern • Source: Alamy

The UK has announced plans for the development of new COVID-19 vaccines that include running human challenge trials using a new variant of the coronavirus and investing in new testing facilities to assess the effectiveness of existing and new vaccines against variants of concern (VoC).

The moves are timely given that the World Health Organization has just classified the new Indian variant virus (B.1.617) as...