Scientists around the globe have been wrestling with how variants like B.1.617 — the latest “variant of concern” first identified in India — are driving infections and new surges. UK researchers anticipate this variant will become the most dominant one in that country in the coming days. Vaughn Cooper is an evolutionary and microbiologist at the University of Pittsburgh who has been sequencing the virus. He told The World’s Carol Hills that these developments only further highlight the power of vaccination to prevent more mutations and limit the spread.