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The UK health minister warned that coronavirus vaccines may be less effective against new variants of the disease, such as those found in South Africa and Brazil, and that stricter border controls are justified.
“We don’t know the extent of that,” said Matt Hancock in an interview with Sky News on Sunday, commenting on the extent of any potential reduction in vaccine effectiveness. “In the meantime, we need to have a precautionary principle that says we are not going to bring these new variants back to the UK”
Hancock’s warning came when the UK said it vaccinated more than 5 million people, including three-quarters of those over 80. Hancock said the government is conducting a vaccine trial on the South African variant to study its response to inoculation, and that he is concerned about the development of new variants elsewhere.
“The new variant I really care about is the one that is out there but has not been identified,” he said, adding that the UK is offering its genome sequencing capabilities to other countries to help them identify new strains . There are 77 known cases of the South African variant in Britain and at least 9 cases of the Brazilian variant, said Hancock on the BBC’s “The Andrew Marr Show”.
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The United Kingdom has already banned flights from South Africa and neighboring countries, as well as all of South America, in an attempt to prevent the spread of the new variants. Hancock said the government does not rule out the introduction of even stricter measures for international travel in the coming days.
Britain is battling the highest death toll in Europe from the disease and struggling to recover from its deepest recession in more than 300 years. The latest data published on Sunday reported another 610 deaths, bringing the UK total to 97,939. The government is also on the alert for signs that a local variant of the virus, which is up to 70% more transmissible, could be more deadly than the original strain.
Vaccine supply – not distribution by the National Health Service – is the limiting factor in the UK’s vaccination rate, said Hancock. About 6.35 million people have already received their first dose, the latest figures showed, with Britain far ahead of other European countries.
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Hancock could not confirm whether schools would reopen until Easter, saying the government would have to examine data on the pandemic at the time. Although the government also wants to lift social restrictions as soon as possible, Hancock added that it is too early to give more details about the possible easing.
“There is initial evidence that the blockade is starting to decrease cases, but we are still very, very, very far from being low enough,” said Hancock at Sky. “You can see the pressure on the NHS, you can see it every day.”
(Updates with the latest coronavirus data from the sixth paragraph.)