Pfizer, Moderna test Covid vaccines against new variant - report

Pfizer and Moderna on Tuesday said they were testing their Covid-19 vaccines against the new mutated version of the virus recently discovered in the UK.

"Based on the data to date, we expect that the Moderna vaccine-induced immunity would be protective against the variants recently described in the UK; we will be performing additional tests in the coming weeks to confirm this expectation," Moderna said in a statement cited by CNN.

Pfizer said it was now "generating data" on whether samples from people immunised with its vaccine "may be able to neutralize the new strain from the UK".

The novel coronavirus has mutated before, and both companies say they've found that their vaccines worked against other variations of the virus.