Sir John Bell, a professor at Oxford University in the UK, told CNBC on Wednesday that he was confident that Covid-19 vaccines could be repeated to provide effective protection against coronavirus mutations in the future.
Bell’s comments on “Closing Bell” come as global attention is focused on a species of virus that is widespread in the UK that may be more easily spread than previous versions. It has since been found in Colorado and California.
“This is going to be a game of cat and mouse now,” said Bell, who helped oversee the development of the Oxford vaccine in partnership with AstraZeneca. The UK government approved the emergency vaccine use license on Wednesday, after giving Pfizer and BioNTech vaccines a limited license earlier this month.
Studies are underway to officially determine whether the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine protects against the new strain of the virus, Bell said. “We think they can, but we just want to be absolutely sure.”
“Given the level of infection in the UK with the new variant … we have many examples of people who have been vaccinated who are susceptible to the virus, and we will be able to quickly tell if the vaccine is really protective of that snoring, “Bell said.
In addition to the coronavirus variant found in Britain, a unique strain first discovered in South Africa has come into focus. Officials at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday that it could also be circulating in America.
Bell told CNBC that he believes the variation found in South Africa has mutations that make it “slightly more worrying” than the pressure common in the UK. However, Bell added express confidence in how scientists will handle any mutation of a virus that bypasses the protection afforded by existing vaccines.
“If we need to make new vaccines, we can do them now that we have done the original work. I’m sure our friends with the RNA vaccines can do the same,” Bell said. The Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines were developed using messenger RNA technology, a new technique that uses a genetic material to stimulate an immune response. The Oxford-AstraZeneca viral vector vaccine uses a weakened version of a common cold virus that causes infections in chimpanzees.
“We are ready if we need another vaccine to come in handy,” said Bell, noting that the development process to update vaccines may not require the same major clinical trials that were conducted in -year, just immunogenicity studies to make sure it stimulates an immune response.
It is not uncommon for viruses to circulate, according to Dr. Scott Gottlieb, a former Food and Drug Administration commissioner who serves on Pfizer ‘s board of directors. “Some viruses like the flu develop their surface proteins very quickly, which is why we need a different flu vaccine every season,” he told CNBC earlier this month.
Gottlieb then said that he also believes that the current vaccines will not protect against the virus strain introduced in the UK because of the way in which the vaccines target spike proteins. total the coronavirus.
“We develop antibodies to many different regions of that protein, so even if one part of that protein were suppressed and some antibodies recognize it more, antibodies to other parts of that protein would,” he said. . “So this may not slip past our vaccines easily, but ultimately we need to update the vaccines.”
Disclosure: Scott Gottlieb is a CNBC partner and a board member of Pfizer, Tempus genetic testing startup and biotechnology company Illumina. Gottlieb is also co-chair of the Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings ′ and the Caribbean “Healthy Navigation Panel”.