Top Warp Speed Doctor Explains Why Vaccine Will Likely Work Against New, More Contagious COVID-19 Strain | Eastern North Carolina Now

Publisher's Note: This post appears here courtesy of the The Daily Wire. The author of this post is Jon Brown.

    The top doctor working on "Operation Warp Speed" reassured Americans that COVID-19 vaccines will most likely remain effective even against a new, more contagious strain that appears to be spreading in the United Kingdom.

    Dr. Moncef Slaoui told CNN host Jake Tapper on Sunday that despite the new variant, which some speculate may already be in the United States, the structure of the virus renders any significant mutation difficult.

    Explaining that researchers in both countries are looking "very carefully" into the new strain, Slaoui said, "The key is that the spike protein requires really very, very specific three-dimensional structure that makes it hard for it to mutate too much. So, up to now, I don't think there has been a single variant that would be resistant to the virus — to the vaccine. We can't exclude it, but it's not there now. And this particular variant in the U.K., I think, is very unlikely to have escaped the vaccine immunity."

    Dr. Anthony Fauci echoed Slaoui on Monday, telling "PBS NewsHour" that even though the U.K. strain of COVID-19 was likely already on American shores, he still has faith in the efficacy of the vaccine.

    In response to the new strain, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson issued an emergency lockdown on London and southeastern England over the weekend. Ireland, Canada, and several European nations responded by restricting travel to and from the U.K. in response.