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Vials of the Pfizer BioNtech Covid-19 vaccine at Centenario Miguel Hidalgo Hospital in Aguascalientes, Mexico, on Thursday, January 14, 2020. The number of confirmed cases in the coronavirus epidemic in Mexico stands at 1.57 million at 7:30 a.m. morning Mexico City, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University and Bloomberg News.
(Bloomberg) – Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE have shown that their Covid-19 vaccine will protect against the new variant of the coronavirus that has emerged in the UK with the results of another lab trial.
Like previous work from the University of Texas medical branch, results released Wednesday showed that antibodies in the blood of vaccinated people were able to neutralize a version of the mutant virus that had been created in the lab. The study was posted on the BioRxiv preprint server ahead of peer review.
Unlike the previous study, which looked at a crucial mutation, the new research tested all 10 mutations located on the spike protein of the virus, which helps it bind to host cells. This is a promising but inconclusive result, as scientists continue to monitor closely whether mutations in the virus may necessitate adjustment of vaccines.
Antibodies in the blood of 16 volunteers in a previous German trial of the vaccine were just as effective against the mutant strain created in the lab as against the original virus. The result “makes it highly unlikely that British variant viruses will escape” vaccine protection, wrote the research team, led by BioNTech CEO Ugur Sahin.
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A healthcare worker prepares a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine at the maternal hospital in Belgrade, Serbia on Sunday, January 10, 2021. The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) has signed an agreement with the government Serbian for the supply of 2 million doses of Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine, the RDIF said in a statement.
The BioNTech team is nonetheless ready to adapt the vaccine if necessary in the future, he said. This could become necessary to protect against other strains amid evidence that another variant that has emerged in South Africa may be more difficult to verify.
A separate study on this strain has raised concerns. Scientists have found that half of the blood samples from a handful of patients who already had Covid-19 did not contain the antibodies needed to protect against the South African variant, which is spreading around the world.
Findings, from the South African National Institute of Communicable Diseases, suggest that these people may no longer be protected from reinfection. In the other half, antibody levels were reduced and the risk of reinfection could not be determined, according to the institute. The results were not peer reviewed and were based on a small sample.
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A healthcare worker prepares a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine at the maternal hospital in Belgrade, Serbia on Sunday, January 10, 2021. The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) has signed an agreement with the government Serbian for the supply of 2 million doses of Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine, the RDIF said in a statement.
Separately, a third study by a team from Rockefeller University also highlighted the importance of closely monitoring the efficacy of variant vaccines. The team tested for mutations found in variants first discovered in the UK and South Africa, as well as a third in Brazil, in blood samples from 20 volunteers who had received the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. or a similar vaccine from Moderna Inc. testing, blood samples from donors were not as effective at neutralizing variants.
“Vaccines may need to be updated periodically to avoid potential loss of clinical efficacy,” the Rockefeller team wrote. Like the other studies, their work was presented in pre-print, before peer review.
(Updates with the Rockefeller study in the last two paragraphs)
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