NEW: Some new variants of the coronavirus may pose unexpected challenges to the immune system, even in those who have been vaccinated, according to two new studies, posted online Tuesday night. 1/6 https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/20/health/coronavirus-variants-immunity.html

Before you read the rest of this thread, a note of caution: The sky is not falling down, the world is not ending. So don't panic. OTOH, I talked to about 7 scientists on Friday who were all sure vaccines would work well, and pretty much all were much more worried yesterday. 2/6

The studies addressed an immediate concern that accompanied news of the variants surfacing in Britain, South Africa, Brazil, the U.S. Will the vaccines still work? The answer is yes. 3/6

I say mostly because the vaccines will still protect people from getting sick, but they may not prevent infection. And if those people can still transmit to the unvaccinated, people will still get sick. The solution is to vaccinate quickly, before the virus changes much more 4/6

One study looked at samples from Covid survivors and found about half did not neutralize the variant circulating in South Africa. The other looked at sera from vaccinated people and also found a drop in effectiveness against some mutations in the variant, but much smaller. 5/6

Please read the story for more on what it all means.

w/ @NussenzweigL @jbloom_lab @florian_krammer @10queues @VirusesImmunity, Penny Moore, John Moore and others, incl @vsv512, who talked to me but weren't quoted. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/20/health/coronavirus-variants-immunity.html