BBC News: South Africa coronavirus variant: What is the risk?

As the COVID-19 virus continues to mutate, questions arise about the effect of these mutations. Certain mutations may make the virus more contagious or reduce the effectiveness of the recently developed vaccines. In particular, scientists are concerned about the South African variant of SARS-CoV-2 since the mutations are present in the region of genetic material that many vaccines are based upon. This means that this variant has greater potential to bypass detection by the immune system and can deem vaccines ineffective. To read the full article by Michelle Roberts, click here. To learn more about COVID-19, click here.