Is the COVID-19 Vaccine Effective Against the New Coronavirus Strain?

The joy from the news of a COVID-19 vaccine has already been overshadowed by the news of a new, highly contagious COVID-19 strain. Many wonder if the vaccine is still effective or if the world is now back at square one. The good news is that drugmakers and elected officials say they believe the vaccine is still effective.

EU Leaders Weigh In on the New COVID-19 Strain and Immunization

German health minister Jens Spahn spoke to ZDF, saying that according to everything known about the new strain so far, it has “no impact on the vaccines,” which will be “just as effective” as before. Spahn said the information comes from a meeting of experts in Berlin on Sunday.

The French government released a statement supporting the claim, saying that “This genetic variant does not seem to entail, at this stage of knowledge, a heightened seriousness or a resistance to the vaccine.”

Experts refer specifically to the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine in particular. This vaccine is the only one approved for use in the United Kingdom and has been rolled out across the United States too. The rest of Europe is expected to approve the vaccine any day now. Confirmation that the vaccine is still effective comes after warnings from British Prime Minister Boris Johnson that the new strain was 70% more infectious. The French government downplayed the claim, saying it “has not been demonstrated at this stage.”

The World Health Organization reports nine more cases in Denmark, with one new case in Australia and the Netherlands. Italy also claimed to have seen a coronavirus case in someone who returned from Britain. Germany has organized another emergency meeting to discuss how the EU is responding to the pandemic and what the next steps are moving forward. The emergency meeting will be held under the IPCR crisis response scheme, which can be invoked during health, terrorist, or environmental emergencies.