White House Chief Medical Adviser Dr Anthony Fauci on Tuesday said that the vaccines currently being administered in the United States would be “at least partially and probably quite protective” against the variants of coronavirus first found in India. Dr Fauci made the observation citing the recent studies published in medical journals.

He said the results are very encouraging regarding protection against the known SARS-CoV-2 variants, a Hindustan Times report said.

“The modest neutralization resistance of B.1.617.1 variant to vaccine-elicited antibodies suggests that current vaccines will be protective,” according to the slide shared by the White House Covid-19 response team as Fauci spoke, it added.

“The spike proteins of SARS-CoV-2 B.1.617 and B.1.618 variants identified in India provide partial resistance to vaccine-elicited and therapeutic monoclonal antibodies,” the presentation further read, the report stated.

Currently, the United States is using coronavirus vaccines made by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, both made using mRNA technology.

Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine has shown efficacy against SARS-CoV-2 dominant variants which remain vulnerable to neutralising antibodies, said Fauci.

He added that most recipients of Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine have shown  binding and functional antibodies against variants of a wide range.

“This is just another example of the scientific data accruing, and as I have shown you here...indicating another very strong reason why we should be vaccinated,” said Dr Fauci, according to the HT report.

Scientists across the world are studying the efficacy of vaccines against the "variants of concern".

The B.1.617 variant is the fourth variant that has been classified as a variant of global concern. The deadly second wave of Covid-19 in India has been attributed to this variant.

(SAM)