FILE PHOTO: Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson holds a vial of an Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, during his visit at a vaccination centre at Cwmbran Stadium in Cwmbran, south Wales, Britain February 17, 2021. Geoff Caddick/Pool via REUTERS/File
LONDON - British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday said he was confident that existing vaccines would give some protection against coronavirus variants, adding that work was underway by pharmaceutical companies to update their shots.
Britain has agreed on a supply deal for 50 million doses of vaccines against new variants with Germany's CureVac, and developers of other vaccines, such as the Oxford/AstraZeneca shot, are also looking to redesign their vaccine to give more specific protection against variants this year.
"We are confident that all our vaccines are effective in reducing death and serious disease, and we have no reason to doubt that they are effective in reducing death and serious disease with the new variants as well," Johnson told parliament.
"Over the course of a few months we will see new vaccines to defeat these vaccine-escaping variants."
