The Pfizer and AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccines are highly effective against the variant identified in India after two doses, a study has found.
Two jabs of either vaccine give a similar level of protection against symptomatic disease from the Indian variant as they do for the Kent one.
However, both vaccines were only 33% effective against the Indian variant three weeks after the first dose.
This compared with 50% effectiveness against the Kent variant.
Public Health England, which ran the study, said the vaccines are likely to be even more effective at preventing hospital admission and deaths.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the findings made him “increasingly confident” that the government was on track for the final stage of easing restrictions in England on 21 June.
The data showed that getting both doses of the vaccine was “absolutely vital”, he added.
