Hancock slapped down by Vallance over claim vaccine less effective ‘You CAN’T do that!’ | Politics | News

Chief Scientific advisor Sir Patrick Vallance addressed comments from Health Secretary Matt Hancock who suggested the South African variant may result in the Pfizer vaccine being 50 percent less effective. He insisted there was no evidence yet that suggested that this was true.  Boris Johnson held a press conference on Friday evening to inform the public on the latest changes in the fight against the coronavirus crisis. 

The Prime Minister admitted that there was evidence to suggest that the new UK variant of coronavirus were more fatal than its predecessor.

He did note that both the current vaccines remain effective against both variants, however.  

During the briefing, Sir Patrick said: “It is important to recognise that there is no evidence that the South African or Brazillian variants have transmission advantages over what is already here.

“They wouldn’t be expected to spread more quickly or take over, they actually may have less, we don’t know.” 

After reflecting on the possibility of the South African variant spreading more easily, Sir Patrick commented on the coronavirus vaccines effectiveness against these variants.

He said: “I am going to be a bore about this because these are difficult laboratory studies.

More to follow…