LONDON, Jan 4 (Reuters) – Scientists are not fully confident that COVID-19 vaccines will work on a new variant of the coronavirus found in South Africa, ITV’s political editor said on Monday, citing an unidentified scientific adviser to the British government.

British Health Secretary Matt Hancock said earlier on Monday that he was incredibly worried about the new variant.

“According to one of the government’s scientific advisers, the reason for Matt Hancock’s ‘incredible worry’ about the South African Covid-19 variant is that they are not as confident the vaccines will be as effective against it as they are for the UK’s variant,” ITV political editor Robert Peston said.

(Reporting by Kate Holton and Guy Faulconbridge)

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