Three vaccines with emergency use authorization and two COVID-19 variants are facing off in the first quarter of 2021

Between the UK and South African variants, experts are worried if the vaccines will work against the latter

The data from genomic sequencing suggests mutations in the South African variant may resist vaccines

Lawrence Young, a virologist at Warwick University, said: "The accumulation of more spike mutations in the South African variant are more of a concern and could lead to some escape from immune protection"

Scientists across the globe, including BioNTech's Ugur Sahin and Oxford University's John Bell, are testing if COVID-19 vaccines can overcome the mutations

The testing will show them too what needs to be done in case the vaccines are less effective

Doing so may allow them to change parts of the vaccines in just weeks, instead of starting from scratch

But why experts are more worried about the South African variant than the UK strain?

According to the US CDC, the South African B.1.351 variant emerged independently of the UK strain B.1.1.7

Both exhibited high transmissibility rates in reported cases

However, B.1.351 has a few more surprises

Simon Clarke at the University of Reading confirmed that the South African variant has extra mutations, compared to the UK variant

The excess alterations are linked to the spike protein of the coronavirus

Not only do the mutations increase the chance of infecting human cells, but also raise the ability to dodge the immune system

Because the vaccines elicit an antibody response, any changes in the antigen may impair antibodies

If the coronavirus has several mutations in its antigen, antibodies from vaccines may not bind correctly, resulting in reduced effectiveness

Public Health England said there's no evidence yet to support that COVID-19 vaccines wouldn't work against the variants, Reuters reported

Aside from high transmissibility rates, both variants are correlated to higher viral loads

When a person contracts either strain, their body would likely have a greater concentration of virus particles, which means, better odds of transmitting the variant to others

So, scientists are investigating two things

Will the vaccines work on the UK variant?

If yes, will these vaccines protect people from the South African variant?

Globally, 60 vaccines are in clinical trials, including the ones from Pfizer/BioNTech, AstraZeneca/Oxford, Moderna, Gamaleya Institute, and Sinopharm