It has emerged from South Africa that a new variant of COVID 19 has been discovered, which is considered a variant of interest with mutations capable of avoiding the immune response. Very little is known about this particular variant, with its discovery being only in the last few days. There are virtually no scientific papers available on the subject, although one or two scientists of note have commented on the developments in South Africa. The two primary considerations are, first, the severity of transmissibility and, secondly, how vaccines are susceptible to the variants.