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PARIS, France (AFP) – The vaccine made by Pfizer and BioNTech appears to retain its effectiveness against coronavirus mutations in disturbing new variants that have recently emerged in Britain and South Africa, the companies said on Thursday.
Several new variants – each with a cluster of genetic mutations – have sparked fears of increased infectivity as well as suggestions that the virus could begin to elude the immune response, whether it is a previous infection or vaccine.
Pfizer / BioNTech, who previously said the strain originally found in Britain was unlikely to escape vaccine protection, said on Thursday that initial tests suggest their vaccination would also be protective against the variant. in South Africa.
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The Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine is being used by Israel as part of its world’s leading vaccination campaign.
In a statement, the two companies said these preliminary results “do not indicate the need for a new vaccine to treat emerging variants.”
They said they were “ready to respond” if a new strain was found to be able to evade the immunity of the vaccine, adding that they could produce updates to their injection if needed.
A healthcare professional prepares a Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at Sheba Tel Hashomer hospital in Ramat Gan, January 12, 2021 (Oded Balilty / AP)
The statement comes after US biotech company Moderna announced this week that lab studies suggest its vaccine should protect against variants first found in the UK and South Africa.
The latest Pfizer / BioNTech research, which has not yet been peer reviewed, was conducted by researchers at Pfizer and the University of Texas.
The authors compared the antibodies of 20 people who received two doses of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine in clinical trials with sets of mutations developed in the laboratory and present in the variants that appeared in Britain and South Africa.
Fears to “ escape ”
The new variants – along with another linked to Brazil – feature mutations in the virus’s spike protein, which allows the virus to cling to human cells and therefore plays a key role in the spread of infections.
One mutation in particular – known as E484K and found in strains from South Africa and Brazil, but not from Britain – has experts particularly worried about the “escape” of immunity. .
The study found that the antibodies were able to neutralize all of the sets of mutations tested.
He noted that the effect was “slightly lower” against three mutations in the variant found in South Africa, including E484K.
A worker disinfects the handrails of an escalator in a Johannesburg shopping center, December 8, 2020 (AP Photo / Denis Farrell)
But the companies said it was “unlikely to lead to a significant reduction in the effectiveness of the vaccine.”
They said they were looking to test all of the variant spike protein mutations that emerged in South Africa.
A study published last week by researchers in South Africa, which has not yet been peer reviewed, tested the variant found there against blood plasma from patients with COVID- 19 recovered.
They found it to be resistant to neutralizing antibodies created by a previous infection, but said more research was needed on the effectiveness of other parts of the immune response.
Daily deaths worldwide from COVID-19 surpassed 18,000 for the first time on Wednesday, with vaccines seen as the only real chance of returning to some form of normalcy.
German company BioNTech has previously said that messenger RNA technology can update the vaccine against new variants within weeks.
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