Translation:. If you have had covid before, or a vaccine, you are very unlikely to get it again. Not so with this variant.
> In conclusion, we present data suggesting that the 501Y.V2 variant first detected in South Africa is able to escape the neutralizing antibody response elicited by natural infection with earlier variants.
We expect data in the next weeks from phase 3 vaccine trials being conducted in South Africa. If the variant does have an effect on vaccine efficacy, then there may be a signal in the data from these clinical trials.
Vaccine efficacy is still inconclusive but we’ll know soon.
My fear is that the vaccination effort will take so long that it will allow enough time for variants to evolve to escape the vaccine.
This can happen with any vaccine that isn't 100% effective. You get strong selection pressure towards mutations where the vaccine is less effective.
Yet somehow vaccines for most other infections are still broadly effective.