The steady drumbeat of reports about new variants of the coronavirus — first in Britain, then in South Africa, Brazil and the United States — has brought a new worry: Will vaccines protect against these altered versions of the virus?

Africa's COVID-19 case fatality rate surpasses global level Africa's coronavirus case fatality rate has risen alarmingly to 2.5%, higher than the global level of 2.2%, the head of the continent's disease control body said on Thursday. Reuters Staff U.S.

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Africa’s coronavirus case fatality rate has risen alarmingly to 2.5%, higher than the global level of 2.2%, the head of the continent’s disease control body said on Thursday.

Black doctors' group takes aim at Covid-19 vaccine hesitancy A professional society of African American doctors is trying to learn about communities' concerns — and address them. Eric Boodman STAT

In September, after the Food and Drug Administration authorized Covid-19 treatments based more on presidential puffery than on clinical data, some physicians decided to take matters into their own hands.

Dr. Fauci says Covid vaccines appear to be less effective against some new strains Even if the vaccines are less effective against new variants, they'll still likely provide enough protection to make them worth getting, Dr. Anthony Fauci said. Noah Higgins-Dunn CNBC

Key Points:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/19/single-covid-vaccine-dose-in-israel-less-effective-than-we-hoped

Israel’s coronavirus tsar has warned that a single dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine may be providing less protection than originally hoped, as the country reported a record 10,000 new Covid infections on Monday.

In remarks reported by Army Radio, Nachman Ash said a single dose appeared “less effective than we had thought”, and also lower than Pfizer had suggested.

By contrast, those who had received their second dose of the Pfizer vaccine had a six- to 12-fold increase in antibodies, according to data released by Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer on Monday.

Coronavirus updates: COVID-19 can spread within seconds through talking, study says; Some states, Canada report vaccine shortages Some states report they are running out of vaccines. The U.K. suffered its deadliest day of the pandemic on Tuesday. Latest COVID-19 news. Elinor Aspegren, Adrianna Rodriguez and Doyle Rice USA TODAY

Study: Airborne virus can spread 6 feet within seconds through talking