The chief executive of BioNTech has said the German pharmaceutical company is confident that its Pfizer coronavirus vaccine works against the UK variant, but further studies are needed to be completely sure.
Moderna, which manufactures a different coronavirus vaccine, is also testing its jab against the faster-spreading version of the disease.
– Could the new strain force Britain into tougher lockdown restrictions?
Epidemiologist Professor John Edmunds, a member of the Government’s Sage scientific advisory panel, suggested tougher lockdown restrictions would be needed to tackle the new variant coronavirus.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “The Government have actually acted pretty fast.
“It depends now on how effective these measures are and how widespread the virus is.
“Unfortunately it does look like the virus is probably across the country already and so I do think that we might unfortunately have to impose tougher restrictions across the country.”
