Covid-19 vaccines that are available in the United States are effective against the deadly variant that was first detected in India, top US health officials said on Tuesday.
America's top infectious disease expert Dr Anthony Fauci told a news conference on Tuesday: "The modest neutralization resistance to the 617 antibodies suggests that the current vaccines that we are all using would be at least partially and probably quite protective".
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Warning the US citizens against the deadly variants and urging them to get vaccinated, senior White House advisor Andy Slavitt said: "We've seen the devastation that these variants can cause in other countries. And we should not feel that this can't happen here".
The B.1.617 virus variant, first identified in India last year, has been classified as a 'variant of concern' at the global level by the World Health Organisation.
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