How well do COVID-19 vaccines protect against mutant strains?

As potentially more dangerous coronavirus variants spread around the world, scientists and doctors quickly discovered How well do COVID-19 vaccines protect against mutant strains.

Preliminary results of a large study published in the journal Science of healthcare workers now suggest that one dose of CoronaVac, a vaccine developed by a Chinese company, is still 50% effective against symptomatic COVID-19 in a Brazilian city where more than three-quarters of new cases are caused by the highly transmissible variant known as P.1.

This real-world protection is roughly the same level seen in the two-dose CoronaVac clinical trials against the standard or ‘wild-type’ pandemic coronavirus in the country, suggesting that mutations in the variant did not increase the ability of SARS-CoV-2 to evade immune responses elicited by the vaccine.

Although the 50% effectiveness is far less than the actual protection of over 90% of COVID-19 vaccines made with messenger RNA (mRNA), it may still be sufficient to slow the spread of the disease in Brazil; Vaccines with this level of efficacy in a clinical trial can be used urgently in many settings and also meet the threshold of World Health Organization.

“This is very good news and it supports the continued use of this vaccine in Brazil and other countries with circulation of the same variant,” he says. Julio Croda, doctor and researcher of the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, who led the study. Protection against the vaccine could be even better after the second dose, he adds, noting that the study is ongoing.

In the same vein, the famous North American researcher, cardiologist and geneticist, Eric Topol, current editor of Medscape, shared in his account Twitter a report published by the digital medical journal medRxiv who analyzes the impact of vaccines on mortality in people over 80 in the Brazilian country.

“While the P.1 variant has spread throughout Brazil, the total number of deaths increased over time from epidemiological week 9, 2021. The proportion of all deaths occurring after age 80 was greater than 25% in weeks 1 to 6 and quickly diminished to 13.1% in weeks 13-14. Death rates were 13 times higher in the 80 and over age group compared to those aged 0 to 79 through week 6, and decreased to 6.9 times in weeks 13 to 14 ”, indicates research.

According to the data revealed by the study, rapid expansion of immunization coverage among older Brazilians was associated with a significant decrease in relative mortality compared to the youngest, in an environment where variant P.1. “If the death rates in the elderly had remained proportional to what was observed until week 6, 13,824 additional deaths would have been expected until week 14,” warn the authors of the research who did not has not yet been peer reviewed.

“Brazil and Chile, two countries with the highest burden of variant P.1, have taken a new turn “, communicated Topol to its followers and included charts of daily COVID-19 cases per million people in both countries.

While, according to calculations by researchers cited by the journal Or balloon, Brazil to apply 1.5 million doses per day to complete the protection of priority groups during this semester, or 80.5 million people, Chile has become the second country on the planet with the highest percentage of vaccinated population completely against the coronavirus. According to data from the Ministry of Health, about 6 million people in the country received both doses of any vaccine among the vaccines available in the country, whether Sinovac or Pfizer, and 8 million have received at least one dose.

The 6 million inhabitants who have completed the vaccination process in Chile, they represent 32% of the total population. In this sense, at the international level, first place is occupied by Israel, which remains the country with the highest percentage of inhabitants vaccinated with 58%.

Immunization rates further confirm that Chile surpasses other countries that have made rapid progress in immunization process, as is the case of Bahrain (30.6%), the United States (28.7%) and the United Kingdom (19%).

Remember that the Chilean vaccination process has dragged on since last February and, so far, according to information from the Ministry of Health, 14,324,489 coronavirus vaccines were provided to the population. As of Tuesday, 12,297,995 Sinovac-type vaccines were administered, while Pfizer’s doses stood at 2,026,494.

“We must redouble public health measures. The less a virus spreads, the less it mutates. ” In order to Anthony S. Fauci, Director of US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, “There is a need to vaccinate as many people as possible with the currently available vaccines and to prepare for the potential event that they will need to be updated in the future.”

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