Reports of new variants of coronavirus (a.k.a. SARS-CoV2) have surfaced in the U.S. in the past month. With these changes in the SARS-CoV2 genome come concerns that the COVID-19 vaccines developed by Moderna and Pfizer may not be as effective. Take a deep breathe - things are not as bleak as they seem! In this episode, we explain viral variants. How do they arise? And, importantly, what do we know about how these mutations change the current situation for COVID-19 (infection rate, vaccine immunity, symptoms)?   Sources New variant info: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/more/scientific-brief-emerging-variant.html https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-01-covid-variant-states.html  Track new variant by state: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/transmission/variant-cases.html Vaccine concerns: https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/08/health/pfizer-vaccine-variant-strain-mutation/index.html https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.01.07.425740v1 Infectivity: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/23/health/coronavirus-uk-variant.html https://cmmid.github.io/topics/covid19/uk-novel-variant.html https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2021/01/08/954967079/coronavirus-faq-how-do-i-protect-myself-from-the-u-k-variant https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.12.24.20248834v1 Viral mutation rate: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02544-6 Viral neutralization test: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plaque_reduction_neutralization_test Flu virus mutations: https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/viruses/change.htm What is BioRxiv: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BioRxiv BioRxiv Moderna 1/25: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.01.25.427948v1  Update 1/25 new variants: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/25/health/coronavirus-moderna-vaccine-variant.html?auth=login-email&login=email  Brazilian variant: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/covid-brazil-strain-confirmed-minnesota/  https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2021/01/21/958953434/reinfections-more-likely-with-new-coronavirus-variants-evidence-suggests Follow us @steministaspod on Twitter and Instagram. You can also email us at steministas@gmail.com!