Ugur Sahin, BioNTech CEO (Andreas Arnold/dpa via AP Images)

Covid-19 roundup: Pfiz­er/BioN­Tech/Mod­er­na test vac­cines against new UK vari­ant; Ocu­gen strikes deal for US rights to PhI­II vac­cine

Both Pfiz­er/BioN­Tech and Mod­er­na have said their can­di­dates should pro­tect against a new vari­ant of coro­n­avirus that has been de­tect­ed in the UK, and are con­duct­ing tests to prove it.

BioN­Tech CEO Ugur Sahin has said it’s “high­ly like­ly” that their vac­cine de­vel­oped with Pfiz­er will be ef­fec­tive against the new vari­ant, which sci­en­tists wor­ry could spread more eas­i­ly than the cur­rent strain. There’s no ev­i­dence right now that the mu­ta­tion caus­es more se­ri­ous ill­ness. But to be safe, mul­ti­ple coun­tries are block­ing trav­el from the UK.

Endpoints News

Unlock this article instantly by becoming a free subscriber.

You’ll get access to free articles each month, plus you can customize what newsletters get delivered to your inbox each week, including breaking news.