Experts concerned South Africa Covid-19 mutation could harm vaccine efficacy

Experts are concerned a Covid-19 mutation first found in South Africa could harm the efficacy of vaccines.

Along with the UK variant wreaking havoc in Britain, the new South Africa strain appears to be more infectious.

However, unlike the UK mutation, there are fears the South Africa variant may lessen the success of vaccines.

"The South African variant has a number of additional mutations including changes to some of the virus' spike protein which are concerning," the University of Reading's Dr Simon Clarke told the BBC.

"There are more extensive alterations of the spike protein than the changes in the Kent variant, which may make the virus less susceptible to the immune response triggered by the vaccines."

Prof Francois Balloon from the University College of London echoed his concerns.

"The E484K mutation has been shown to reduce antibody recognition. As such, it helps the virus SARS-CoV-2 to bypass immune protection provided by prior infection or vaccination."

In one instance of good news, experts agree current vaccines can be tweaked if necessary in order to combat new mutations, similar to what is done with influenza vaccines.