According to The Telegraph, academics who helped create the original AstraZeneca jab have updated it with minor genetic alterations designed to tackle the Beta variant, which was first identified in South Africa and is still in the UK at low levels.
An Oxford University study found that giving people a third dose more than six months after their second led to a substantial rise in antibodies and increased the body’s T-cell ability to fight coronavirus, including its variants. He said real-world data from Public Health England has already shown that two doses offer good protection against hospital admission and death from the Alpha Kent variant and the Delta variant first identified in India.With two doses currently preventing more than 90 per cent of hospital admissions with Covid, he said it is "difficult to say" whether a third dose could add a few more per cent.