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Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine produces a weakened immune response against the variant found in South Africa, study finds.
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The vaccine produced two-thirds fewer neutralizing antibodies against a laboratory-made virus designed to mimic the variant.
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The study author said the vaccine would likely still be protective in real life, according to Reuters.
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Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine produces a weakened immune response against the contagious variant found in South Africa, which has now also been identified in the United States, a new study has suggested.
The vaccine generated a less potent immune response against a lab-made coronavirus designed to mimic the variant found in South Africa, known as B.1.351, than against the original strain, the companies said on Wednesday.
According to correspondence published in the New England Journal of Medicine, there was about a two-thirds reduction in the effectiveness of antibodies produced by Pfizer’s vaccine against a laboratory-made variant.
The lab-made variant had the exact same spike protein – the part of the virus it uses to infect cells and the target of existing COVID-19 vaccines – as the variant, which has now been found in 35 countries and several states Americans. .
The study’s authors said it was “not clear” what this reduction in the antibody “neutralization” response actually means for how Pfizer’s vaccine protects against COVID-19 caused by B .1.351 in real life.
Pfizer and BioNTech’s vaccine was 95% effective in protecting against the original coronavirus in trials conducted in 2020, and was the first COVID-19 vaccine approved in many countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom. Pfizer and BioNTech have announced plans to manufacture around 2 billion doses in total by the end of 2021.
B.1.351 was first detected in South Africa in samples dating back to October 2020 and has spread to 35 countries around the world, including the United Kingdom and the United States. There are eight reported cases of people infected with the variant in the United States, according to GISAID, but the actual number could be higher.
The variant is 50% more contagious
The variant is believed to be 50% more contagious than the original coronavirus variants. Laboratory studies have shown that B.1.351 sometimes escapes antibodies produced by people previously infected with coronavirus. The impact of this phenomenon on the effectiveness of vaccines is not yet clear.
Scientists at US drug giant Pfizer and the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) tested blood samples from 15 people who received Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine against three laboratory pseudoviruses, and compared the response to a strain circulating in the United States in January 2020.
The technique was very similar to a previous experiment by the same scientists, which showed that Pfizer’s vaccine worked less well against some of the mutations on variants found in the UK and South Africa.
The methods and conclusions of the experiment were not reviewed by other experts in a peer review.
The study was small and only measured antibodies, which are part of the immune response.
Why will the vaccine still work in real life against the variant?
Pei-Yong Shi, professor at UTMB and co-author of the study, told Reuters that there is no “dividing line” for the magnitude of the antibody response to protect against the virus. He said he suspected the immune response seen in the study was likely significantly greater than it should be to provide protection against COVID-19.
Shi said that while the worrisome variant dramatically reduces effectiveness, the vaccine should still help protect against serious illness and death. Shi said more work is needed to fully understand whether the vaccine works against the variant in South Africa, including clinical trials and the development of a benchmark to determine levels of protective antibodies.
The blood samples were from 15 people who were immunized as part of Pfizer’s advanced trial and received two doses 21 days apart. So we do not know if the same results apply to people who receive their second dose outside of this time.
To find out whether the vaccine will work against variants of the coronavirus in real life, eyes around the world are on Israel, as the country has rolled out Pfizer’s vaccine to two-thirds of its population. Israeli officials said the vaccine was 90-95% effective against the UK variant, B.1.1.7, but it was “too early” to say anything about the African variant. South, according to Reuters.
Even if it doesn’t work so well, the vaccine could be updated and adapted to new variants. BioNTech said it could make a new vaccine in six weeks, according to the Financial Times. Or you might be able to get a protective reminder.
It is not clear from other vaccines how well they work against the variant in South Africa.
Moderna announced on January 26 that similar small-scale lab tests suggested his vaccine was working less well against the variant in South Africa and that he was developing a booster vaccine. AstraZeneca shot has been shown to be less effective against mild to moderate illness in South Africa, but the World Health Organization has said it protects against severe illness and hospitalizations caused by B.1.375, the variant in South Africa.
Johnson & Johnson and Novartis’ COVID-19 vaccines, which are not yet approved, have been less effective in clinical trials in South Africa.
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