Boris Johnson says he is "very confident" in the Covid vaccines being used in the UK amid concerns about the Oxford-AstraZeneca jab's effectiveness against the South Africa variant.
The vaccines were effective in delivering a high degree of protection against serious illness, the PM said.
A small study found the Oxford jab gave "minimal protection" against mild disease from the South Africa variant.
But scientists remain confident it will protect against serious disease.
Some 147 cases of the South Africa variant have been found in the UK.
However, the Oxford vaccine has shown to provide good protection against the 'Kent' variant, which remains the dominant strain in the UK.
The prime minister said: "We're very confident in all the vaccines that we're using.
"It's important for people to bear in mind that all of them, we think, are effective in delivering a high degree of protection against serious illness and death, which is the most important thing."
The Oxford-AstraZeneca and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines are currently being rolled out in the UK, where nearly 12.3 million people have been given a first dose according to the latest figures.
Another 14,104 confirmed cases were reported on Monday and a further 333 deaths were recorded within 28 days of a positive test, bringing the total to 112,798.
Mr Johnson said the vaccines "remain a massive benefit to our country" and he has "no doubt that vaccines generally are going to offer a way out".
"Yes we're doing everything we can to contain new variants but we're also increasingly confident that science, medicine, is gaining the upper hand over coronavirus and all its variants," he added.
Prof Anthony Harnden, deputy chair of the UK's Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, said it remained "highly likely" the Oxford vaccine would also protect against severe disease caused by the South Africa variant.
According to Prof Peter Openshaw, an immunologist from Imperial College London, mild forms of the illness meant that the virus was only present in the nose and upper airway, whereas "the disease that we are most fearful of is when it gets down deep into the lungs" and potentially affects other organs of the body.
"I think there is very little doubt these vaccines will prevent that sort of spread of the virus outside the confines of the upper respiratory tract," he told the BBC.
In South Africa, where the variant - known as 501.V2 or B.1.351 - accounts for 90% of new coronavirus cases in the country, the rollout of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine has been put on hold awaiting further advice.
Early research suggests other vaccines are also likely to offer less protection against the South African variant than against the original virus.
Dr Peter English, a consultant in communicable disease control, said he hoped to see the availability of new vaccines tailored to the South African variant "within months" as the technology was "well-established".
Viruses mutate - so what is happening is not surprising.
The mutations seen in South Africa change the part of the virus that the vaccines target.
It means all the vaccines that have been produced so far are likely to be affected in some way.
Trials for Novavax and Janssen vaccines that were carried out in South Africa showed less effectiveness against this variant. Both are currently before the UK regulator.
Therefore the news about the Oxford-AstraZeneca does not come out of the blue.
The fact it now only has "minimal" effect according to reports is concerning - the other vaccines showed effectiveness in the region of 60% against the South African variant.
But we should be careful about rushing to judgement. The study was small so there is only limited confidence in the findings.
What is more, there is still hope the vaccine will prevent serious illness and hospitalisation.
What this once again illustrates is the pandemic is not going to end with one Big Bang. Vaccines are likely to have to change to keep pace with the virus.
Progress will be incremental. But vaccines are still the way out of this - and as things stand they remain very effective against the virus that is dominant in the UK.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the South Africa variant is the "single biggest risk" in the pandemic at the moment, and underlined the importance of controls at the borders.
But he said it has taken 50 days from the variant emerging for the government to introduce hotel quarantines and some countries where the variant is present are not included. "This is leaving a back door open at a vital stage in the battle against the virus," he said.
Mr Johnson said border controls could play a greater role against new variants once infection rates are further reduced in the UK.
He said: "It's still extremely high and for border controls really to make that final difference so you can isolate new variants as they come in, you need to have infections really much lower so you can track them as they spread."
Latest government figures reported another 15,845 daily Covid cases on Sunday, down from a peak of 68,000 a month ago.
Dr Mike Tildesley, an infectious disease expert who advises the government, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that "it's very possible" the South Africa variant could already be quite widespread in the UK.
The "surge testing" taking place in certain areas in England "really needs to be effective" to halt its spread, he said, but "sadly we may be in a similar situation to the Kent variant" which eventually spread across the whole country.
He added there were "significant implications" if it was the case that the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine was less effective against the South Africa variant, as it may mean "more restrictions might be needed for longer".
Additional "surge" testing is taking place in a number of areas in England where the South Africa variant has been found, including parts of Surrey, Bristol, London, Kent, Hertfordshire, Walsall, Gloucestershire and Worcestershire.
Positive cases will be analysed to see if they are caused by the South African variant with results coming back in around seven to 10 days, according to the director of public health in Worcestershire, Dr Kathryn Cobain.
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UK health minister Edward Argar told BBC Breakfast there was "no evidence" that the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine was not effective at preventing severe illness from coronavirus "which is the key thing we are seeking to tackle".
South Africa's suspension of the rollout of the vaccine was only "temporary" at this stage and the "context is a little bit different" to the UK where the Kent variant is the dominant strain, he said.
The new study of the Oxford-AstraZeneca jab, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, involved about 2,000 people who were on average 31 years old.
A spokesman for the pharmaceutical company said it had not yet been able to properly establish whether the jab would prevent severe disease and hospitalisation caused by the South Africa variant because those involved in the study had predominantly been young, healthy adults.
But the company expressed confidence the vaccine would offer protection against serious cases, because it created neutralising antibodies similar to those of other coronavirus vaccines.
And early results from Moderna suggest its vaccine is still effective against the South Africa variant.
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2021-02-08 15:30:00Z
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