As awful as it sounds, the release of the Pfizer vaccine was more a temporary sigh of relief than a permanent solution. SARS-CoV-2 was just the first to reach society. However, this pesky family of viruses has greater plans in store. 

Recently, the first case of coronavirus caused by mutation B117 was recorded in the United Kingdom around September. Cases spiked from just 13,000 a day to a concerning 50,000 around the winter holiday. This drastic increase in cases can be partially attributed to the fact that B117 is much more contagious than SARS-CoV-2. The symptoms and death toll of both appear to be the same, however. This strain has since been detected in another 34 countries, including the United States. A rather large fraction of the B117 cases in the US belonged to people with no recent travel history, meaning caution is advised more than ever before.

Yet another mutant, 501Y.V2, has also been discovered in South Africa. This mutation may be even more contagious than B117. As of right now, many officials and researchers claim that the 501Y.V2 strain is a greater threat than B117. Only time will tell, but many nations have already canceled incoming flights from both the UK and South Africa until further notice.

Well, what does all of this information mean for the world? Scientists are not quite sure. It has been predicted that the vaccine will likely still work on the B117 strain, but this outlook is not fully certain. More research will be completed in the coming weeks to determine the appropriate course of action.

Sources:

https://www.infectioncontroltoday.com/view/move-over-b117-here-comes-another-covid-mutation

https://www.thedailybeast.com/britains-mutant-coronavirus-strain-has-swamped-the-nation-but-a-worse-one-has-already-arrived