Several virus variants may reduce vaccine effectiveness - UK chief medical officer

There are several variants of the coronavirus that might reduce the effectiveness of vaccines, England's Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty said on Monday.

"There were several variants that look very similar to one another in many ways, which actually could have slightly reduced ... or in some cases, more than slightly reduced, effectiveness from the vaccine," Whitty said.

"In which case ... scientists redesign the vaccine, and that allows to re-vaccinate against the new variant."