To really understand how effective vaccines remain, we need to see who becomes sick with the variant, and how severe that disease becomes. That takes time. “It’s been about two, three weeks since South Africa started reporting these cases. What I’ll be looking for is: Is there a corresponding increase in hospitalizations, and a week later, an increase in deaths?” said Dr. Vineet Menachery, an immunologist at the University of Texas Medical Branch who studies the interaction between the immune system and coronaviruses.