Lots of new variant news - yes, they are more infectious likely due to higher viral loads in nose/mouth but not more "virulent" (not likely to make people more sick) & NPIs (masks, distancing, ventilation) still work since they are spread from nose/mouth. What about vaccines

against new variants? Remember, variants usually have a one or more mutations along the spike protein but the vaccines to date make your body produce the ENTIRE spike protein! So, your immune response (remember 3 arms- antibodies; memory B cells; T cells) should be robust enough

and complex enough to provide immunity against new variants. Pfizer has already shown this for the B.1.1.7 variant from UK and testing other variants. So, would focus on what we can do as individuals to help states with their vaccination campaigns, making them faster.