US vaccines effective against Indian variants: Fauci

Dr Anthony Fauci, chief medical advisor to the President told reporters during a news conference in Washington that US vaccines were "at least partially and probably quite protective," against the new Indian variant of COVID-19.

"The modest neutralisation resistance to the 617 antibodies suggests that the current vaccines that we are all using that we've been speaking about would be at least partially and probably quite protective," Fauci told to reporters.

Making a presentation of his data and latest research on this issue, Dr Fauci said that both the variants B.1.617 and B.1.618, that have been identified in India, have been neutralized with only a 2.5 fold diminution in titer. "That's well within the cushion effect of the capability to protect against infection and certainly against serious disease".

In response to a question, Andy Slavitt, White House COVID-19 Senior Advisor said the vaccines that are available in the US are effective against the variant found in India and that the evidence of their effectiveness is more incentive for people to get vaccinated.

The B.1.617 virus variant, first identified in India last year, has been classified as a ''variant of concern'' by the World Health Organisation.