WHO says known COVID-19 variants respond to existing vaccines

Authorized vaccines in Europe and the United States each respond to all known variants of the coronavirus, the World Health Organization said Thursday. Scientists are still researching the rate of effectiveness and transmissibility of some existing strains of concern. 

"All COVID-19 virus variants can be controlled in the same way with public health and social measures," European Regional Director Hans Kluge said at a press conference. "All COVID-19 virus variants that have emerged so far do respond to the available approved vaccines."  There are four main variants of concern that have been monitored since January 2020, Kluge said. That includes the B.1.617 mutation that currently is devastating India. B.1.617 has been detected in 44 different countries in all six WHO regions and the WHO has received reports of detections in five different countries, according to a recent weekly epidemiological update from the WHO. Multiple variants of the virus that cause COVID-19 are predicted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to increase proportions throughout different regions of the world in the future.