South Africa variant 'more complicated': Fauci
"The one from the Republic of South Africa is a little bit more complicated because it overlaps a bit with the mutation in the UK, but it's a little bit more complicated because some of those mutations might have a negative impact on the efficacy of some of the monoclonal antibodies that are used so we're looking into that very carefully," Fauci said in an interview to the Economic Club of Washington, D.C. on Wednesday.
British scientists expressed concern on Monday that COVID-19 vaccines may not be able to protect against the variant identified by South African scientists and which has spread internationally.
South African researchers are studying the effects of mutations in the variant, including whether natural immunity from exposure to older versions of the virus provides protection against reinfection by the new variant.
