There is no evidence yet to suggest the new coronavirus strain is more dangerous or resistant to existing vaccines.
The new coronavirus mutation is most likely a result of selective pressure on the virus itself, according to Gottlieb. "As the virus continues to spread around the world, we're going to start to see more of these variants, and that's why it's important to get the population vaccinated and snuff out these infections," Gottlieb said. "The more infections you have, the more chances that these variants start to propagate."board member, said the mutated strain is unlikely to create a second wave.
"We're going to have an epidemic that continues to build over the course of the next three or four weeks, we'll reach a peak, and then we'll start to see infection rates decline as we see vaccinations get rolled out," he said. The former FDA boss said there's no indication at the moment that the new strain is going to have an effect on the efficacy of the current crop of vaccines, "but over time it will evolve in ways where it can probably obviate prior infection or vaccines to some degree, so we'll probably need to adapt our vaccines over time."