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Available for over a year

Uncertainty about the new variant has triggered global alarm, with many countries imposing travel bans and border measures. Mutations compared to previous variants have been observed, including a number on the spike protein. This is the target of most vaccines and the key the virus uses to infect the body's cells. Professor Marc Jenkins, director of the Center for Immunology at the University of Minnesota, says that although those changes may reduce the efficacy of the vaccines, it is unlikely that those changes will be enough to circumvent the protection offered by vaccines completely, and that there is "no question" that even if vaccines become less effective, they will still reduce your chances of becoming seriously ill. Photo shows: A young woman receives a vaccine from a medical worker. Credit: Getty Images