Millions of pounds are being ploughed into developing variant-proof Covid vaccines that could be as effective against future strains as those circulating now.

Scientists fear that current jabs could offer little protection against new versions of the Sars-Cov-2 virus – putting the world back to square one.

The international Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, to which the UK has contributed £260 million, is backing two projects. Israeli firm MigVax has been given £3.2 million to advance a vaccine pill known as MigVax-101, which would work as an easy-to-administer booster, and the University of Saskatchewan in Canada has been given £3.7 million to develop its own version.

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