A multi-centered French group, led by Dr. Olivier Schwartz at the Pasteur Institute of Paris, examined how antibodies from previously infected and vaccinated individuals responded to two of the SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern, those first identified in the United Kingdom (B.1.1.7) and South Africa (B.1.351).
New variants of the virus that causes COVID-19 are introduced almost daily. Consensus on a naming system has been difficult, so scientists are developing their own creative names for the variants to help distinguish them from one another.
Independent surveillance programs examining sequences of the SARS-CoV-2 virus associated with COVID- 19 cases, simultaneously detected several distinct variants carrying amino acid substitutions or mutations in the same genetic position on the Spike protein.