Three new, fast-spreading variants of the virus that causes COVID-19 can evade antibodies that work against the original form that sparked the pandemic, new research shows. With few exceptions, whether the antibodies were produced in response to vaccination or natural infection, or were purified antibodies intended for use as drugs, researchers found they needed more antibody to neutralize the new variants. The findings, from laboratory-based experiments, suggest that COVID-19 drugs and vaccines developed thus far may become less effective as the new variants become dominant, as experts say they inevitably will. The researchers looked at variants from South Africa, the United Kingdom, and Brazil. “We’re concerned that people whom we’d expect to have a protective level of antibodies because they have had COVID-19 or been vaccinated against it, might not be protected against the new variants,” says senior author Michael S. Diamond, professor of medicine at Washington University in St. Louis. “There’s …