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<\/div>\nA concerning strain of the coronavirus first detected in India will likely be thwarted by the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines in the US, health officials said Tuesday.<\/p>\n
The more contagious India variant, B.1.617.2 was called a \u201cvariant of concern\u201d in the UK and it\u2019s now made its way\u00a0into the US<\/a>.<\/p>\n But Dr. Anthony Fauci said early data suggests that the two-dose vaccines already in use are \u201cat least partially and probably\u201d protective against the India variant and other strains.<\/p>\n Data from several studies in recent days showed the vaccines maintained antibodies against a wide range of variants for as long as six months, Fauci said at a Tuesday White House COVID-19 briefing.<\/p>\n He added the encouraging data showed the effectiveness \u201cwell within the cushion effect\u201d to protect against infections and serious sickness.<\/p>\n \u201cSo in summary, this is just another example of the scientific data accruing\u2026indicating another very strong reason why we should be getting vaccinated,\u201d Fauci said during the briefing, held virtually.<\/p>\n The India variant is expected to become the dominant strain in the UK, English health officials have said.<\/p>\n A race is on in the UK to contain the variant, which already\u00a0ravaged India<\/a>\u00a0with a catastrophic number of cases. UK health experts fear the strain\u00a0could kill as many as 1,000 people per day<\/a>\u00a0and may be 50 percent more transmissible than the 2020 strain.<\/p>\n Containment efforts may also run counter to the country\u2019s effort to lift coronavirus restrictions.<\/p>\n \u201cIf the virus is significantly more transmissible, we are likely to face some hard choices,\u201d Prime Minister Boris Johnson told reporters last week.<\/p>\n \u201cI have to level with you that this could be a serious disruption to our progress.\u201d<\/p>\n Moderna recently announced the results of a clinical trial that showed\u00a0getting a third shot of its vaccine boosted its effectiveness<\/a>\u00a0against variants first identified in Brazil and South Africa.<\/p>\n In its announcement, the company said it was positioned to tweak its vaccine as new mutations emerged.<\/p>\n