Beta variant

Proper noun

(the) Beta variant

1. The highly virulent B.1.351 strain of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19.
   • Studies in Qatar, where the Beta variant once accounted for half of all infections, have found that two doses of the Pfizer vaccine are 72 to 75 percent effective at preventing infection with Beta, a lower degree of protection than the shots provide against other variants.2021 July 19, Emily Anthes, “The Beta Variant: What Scientists Know”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 11 Jun 2023
   • The Beta variant was selected because it was the prevalent SARS-CoV-2 strain at the time. Thus, after a prolonged interval after immunization with RBD-β, we had planned to challenge these animals with the Beta variant to assess the durability of protection against this variant.2022 August 17, Prabhu S. Arunachalam et al., “Durable protection against the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant is induced by an adjuvanted subunit vaccine”, in Science Translational Medicine, volume 14...

   Synonyms:

   beta, South African variant