Studies: Vaccine works against mutated coronaviruses

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Ton Tran, who is 106 years old, gets the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine on Thursday in San Jose, Calif. Associated Press/ Photo by Noah Berger

Studies: Vaccine works against mutated coronaviruses

Pfizer’s COVID-19 shot largely prevents serious illness from the B.1.1.7 variant, first identified in the United Kingdom, and the B.1.351 strain, originally found in South Africa, two new studies found.

How well does it work? The analyses of COVID-19 data, conducted in Israel and Qatar, showed the vaccine to be 87 to 89 percent effective at blocking infection from the U.K. variant of the coronavirus. It was 72 to 75 percent effective against the South African strain. And overall, it prevented severe illness 97 percent of the time.

Dig deeper: Read John Dawson’s report in Beginnings about the emergence of the U.K. strain of the coronavirus.

Kent Covington

Kent is a reporter and news anchor for WORLD Radio. He spent nearly two decades in Christian and news/talk radio before joining WORLD in 2012. He resides in Atlanta, Ga.

@kentcovington