COVID-19 vaccine producers are looking at making their vaccines more effective against new strains of the virus.
Three COVID-19 variants first discovered in Britain, South Africa and Brazil are believed to be more contagious than the initial strain, but that doesn't necessarily mean the vaccine is ineffective against them.
Researchers believe the current vaccines, while effective, are weaker against the three known new variants.
Dr. Kevin McCarthy at the Pittsburgh Center For Vaccine Research explains "There's some erosion of immunity to it, but how far isn't fully determined yet.
"Most people would have antibodies or immunity that is still capable of blocking the virus or potentially mitigating how severe an infection you get."
He says the variants are a warning to start thinking about how to tweak the vaccines, but it's too early to actually do it.
"At the moment, no, we don't need to necessarily reformulate the vaccine," he says. "What these are is a warning though in that we're going to have to consider to do that in the future."
The good news is researchers say the vaccines are made with easy-to-upgrade technology.
McCarthy says the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines currently recognize a spike protein that coats the coronavirus.
"They can change that sequence and deliver now a spike that represents the strains that are dominant globally or within the United States and so it is potentially as simple as just changing the genetic instruction."
