COVID vaccines possibly less effective against Indian variant -German health official

BERLIN (Reuters) - The currently available COVID-19 vaccines could be less effective against the coronavirus variant that was first found in India, the chief of Germany's public health agency said on Friday, referring to initial studies.

However, the level of knowledge was still very poor and he hoped for better data within two weeks, said Lother Wieler at a news conference.

Health Minister Jens Spahn said that Germany was currently reassessing its travel recommendations for Britain, which is currently listed as a risk region becase the spread of that variant there has caused concern in recent days.

(Reporting by Kirsti Knolle, editing by Thomas Escritt)