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A new study – albeit a small one – suggests that Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine remains effective against mutated viral strains that have emerged in South Africa and the UK, and have since been detected in other parts of the world.
These strains have raised serious concerns as scientists believe they spread more easily from person to person, increasing the risk of straining already overwhelmed health systems and leading to additional deaths.
The study was published ahead of the peer review on bioRxiv on Thursday evening, meaning it has yet to receive a full review by other experts.
Pfizer has teamed up with researchers in the medical branch of the University of Texas at Galveston for lab tests to see if the common mutation in the strains, called N501Y, which changes the peak proteins of the virus, hinders the ability of the vaccine to recognize the protein.
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They used blood samples from 20 people who received the vaccine, made by Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech, in a large study of the injections. The antibodies of these vaccinees succeeded in repelling the virus in the laboratory dishes. Despite the small sample size, Pfizer Scientific Director Dr Philip Dormitzer called it “a very reassuring finding that at least this mutation, which was one of the most worrying people, does not appear to be a problem “for the vaccine.
The results are starting to confirm a general consensus by other experts: Newly approved vaccines should still work against the virus. For example, a scientist studying the variant identified in South Africa tried to allay concerns that existing COVID-19 vaccines would be rendered completely ineffective by the variant known as 501Y.V2.
Although the mutations “may have some effect,” said Richard Lessells, an infectious disease expert at the KwaZulu-Natal Research Sequencing and Innovation Platform, which helped identify the variant in South Africa. South, “they are very unlikely to completely negate the effect of the vaccines.”
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He noted that the vaccines are supposed to “induce a fairly broad immune response”, meaning that such an immune response “could target different parts of the spike protein, not just one,” he told Reuters .
Pfizer chief Dormitzer said this was just the start of “continuous monitoring for virus changes to see if any of them could impact vaccine coverage.”
In addition, there are still concerns that the coronavirus variant initially detected in South Africa may reduce the neutralizing power of antibody drugs, including convalescent plasma. Former FDA commissioner Dr Scott Gottlieb told CNBC’s Shepard Smith on Tuesday that the strain appears to “avoid” certain countermeasures.
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“The South African variant is of great concern right now as it appears to be able to avoid some of our medical countermeasures, particularly antibody-based drugs,” Gottlieb said, referring to evidence from Bloom Lab .
In addition, it remains unclear whether the newly approved coronavirus vaccines can prevent the spread of the virus, in addition to stopping the disease.
The news of the study comes as a number of states announced their first known cases of the UK variant of the coronavirus on Thursday, including Pennsylvania, Texas and Connecticut. These states join others that have already detected the strain, such as California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia and New York.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has already identified more than 50 cases of the British variant strain across the United States.
The other disturbing strain first detected in South Africa has yet to be reported in the United States, although it has appeared in other countries, such as Austria, Switzerland, Japan, France, Zambia and the UK, according to a CNBC report.
Fox News’ Associated Press and Madeline Farber contributed to this report.
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