California’s ‘Epsilon’ COVID-19 Variant Could Evade Vaccines: Study

This undated electron microscope image made available by the U.S. National Institutes of Health in February 2020 shows SARS-CoV-2, yellow, emerging from the surface of cells, blue/pink, cultured in the lab. Also known as 2019-nCoV, the virus causes COVID-19. NIAID-RML/AP/The Canadian Press

A variant of the CCP virus has properties that may help it be more resistant to current vaccines or the immunity a person has gained from a past COVID-19 infection, according to a new peer-reviewed study.

The “Epsilon” variant, first detected in California in May 2020, has three mutations in its spike protein that help it to neutralize antibodies that are produced by mRNA vaccines such as Pfizer and Moderna, researchers from the University of Washington and the San Francisco-based lab Vir Biotechnology stated in their report.