January 8, 2021, 07:36 | Updated: January 8, 2021, 07:41
The Pfizer vaccine appears to be effective against the UK version of Covid, the study suggests.
Photo: PA
The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine can protect against mutation found in the two Covid variants first seen in the UK and South Africa, a new study suggests.
Early studies showed that antibodies from the scenes successfully maintained the new, more transmissible corona-virus rays at bay in lab basin samples.
Pfizer worked with researchers from the Medical Branch of the University of Texas to test the effectiveness of the injection against the bowel.
The group used blood samples from 20 people who received the vaccine and found that the Covid-19 recipients were successful.
The two variants – which share a common mutation called N501Y, a slight modification of one area of the spike protein that coats the virus – have caused international concern, with many countries banning it. on international travel from Britain and South Africa.
The results of the study were posted late Thursday on an online site for researchers. However, they are early and have not yet been studied by peers.
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Nevertheless, Pfizer’s chief scientific officer, Dr Philip Dormitzer, said the findings were “very encouraging” and that the modification did not appear to be a “problem” for the company’s drug.
Viruses are constantly changing the way they spread from person to person and scientists are using these small changes to track how Covid has moved around the world since time immemorial. first discovered in China about a year ago.
British researchers have said that the variant found in the UK – which became a major species in parts of England and has now been found in many other countries – seems to be the same. still susceptible to vaccines.
However, the variant first discovered in South Africa has a further mutation that scientists are still concerned about, one called E484K.
A Pfizer study found that the vaccine appeared to work against an additional 15 viral mutations, but E484K was not among those tested. However, Dr. Dormitzer said it is next on the list.
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Dr. Anthony Fauci, the leading U.S. infectious disease expert, recently said that vaccines are designed to identify several components of the spike protein, making it unlikely that a single mutation may be sufficient to prevent them.
If the latter virus suffocates enough that the vaccine needs to change – as scenes of the flu have changed most years – it wouldn’t be hard to throw the recipe for his company’s bullet. and similar ones, Dr. Dormitzer said.
The vaccine is made with a piece of the virus’ genetic code, simple to modify, although it is not clear what kind of additional test regulators were needed to make such a mutation.
Dr Dormitzer said this was just the beginning of an “ongoing study of virus changes to see if any of them have an effect on vaccine coverage”.
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