JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South African scientists are testing whether vaccines are less effective against the COVID-19 variable first discovered locally and hope for initial results within two weeks, said a professor at the national institute of infectious disease.
The variant, called 501Y.V2, was identified by South African genomics experts at the end of last year and is thought to be more contagious than old variants.
Dr Penny Moore told Reuters that the National Institute of Communicable Diseases had obtained samples from a number of local vaccine tests, including the Oxford University and AstraZeneca bullets, and would try to determine if there were answers. antibody reduced against 501Y.V2.
“The assessments are now well established so we can begin the vaccine studies, which are very time sensitive so we hope to have preliminary results for at least two of the tests within the next two weeks, ”she said on Friday.
Moore said the NICD would run tests on all vaccines being tested in South Africa, including doses developed by Pfizer and BioNTech, Johnson & Johnson and Novavax.
She said there was no basis for concerns expressed by British scientists and politicians this week that vaccines may not be as effective against the 501Y.V2 difference due to alarming mutations in the UK. ‘spike proteins that the virus uses to capture human cells.
“There is enough evidence to support a strong effort to determine whether there is less protection from vaccines,” Moore said.
The outbreak has revived diseases in South Africa, bringing the total number of cases to more than 1.17 million – mostly in Africa – and bringing new cases every day to more than a dozen. 21,000 this week.
South Africa’s health minister said on Thursday that hospitals were struggling to manage the number of patients, as he had announced plans to vaccinate two-thirds of the population to achieve herd immunity. .
Reciting with Alexander Winning; Edited by Joe Bavier, William Maclean