Shao Yiming, a researcher at the Chinese CDC and member of the expert panel of the R&D task force on vaccines in the scientific research and development group, says:

"We are talking about virus mutations at the genetic level, but small variations at the genetic level do not necessarily cause the epidemic characteristics of the virus. The severity of viral pathogenicity and whether the virus can evade vaccine surveillance are phenotypic changes that are relatively slow.

From the point of view of the existing major strains, the existing vaccines have no effect on the UK strain's protective power. In contrast, South Africa and Brazil will have a greater impact than the UK strain. Still, from the point of view of the existing mRNA vaccines in the US and inactivated vaccines in China, they are effective in "real-world studies" with large populations.

The Indian strains have emerged later and are more likely to be effective. The Indian strain came later, but it did not surpass the Brazilian and South African strains in terms of the number of mutations. Indian scientists have also done some tests and believe that the inactivated and virus vector vaccines used in India are still effective.

Still, we can't let down our guard, surveillance is ongoing, and people can rest assured that the Chinese authorities and prevention and control system closely track this information. We can deal with mutated strains once they are available."