EXCERPT:
SLAOUI: "Yes, so that's the information we have. The virus — this virus actually mutates as part of its normal behavior and therefore it is normal to expect that there will be variants. What's very important is to study those variants and understand how infectious they are, whether they have more impact in terms of morbidity or mortality, and critically now, whether they are still sensitive to the vaccines that have been developed. And on those three counts, based on the information shared with us by the U.K. scientists and early data that we have here, we think that these viruses, these various variants should be under control with this vaccine. Fortunately, they are not more deadly to the population. They are more infectious, and therefore they will further exacerbate the surge that we are having."