(Bloomberg) – Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE have built the case that their Covid-19 vaccine will protect against the new variant of the coronavirus that originated in the UK from the results of another laboratory test.
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Vials of the Pfizer BioNtech Covid-19 vaccine at Centenario Hospital Miguel Hidalgo in Aguascalientes, Mexico, on Thursday, January 14, 2020. The number of confirmed cases of coronavirus outbreak in Mexico stands at 1.57 million from 07: 30 in Mexico City, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University and Bloomberg News.
Like previous work from the University of Texas’ medical branch, the results published Wednesday showed that antibodies in the blood of vaccinated people could neutralize a version of the mutant virus created in the laboratory. The study was published on preprint server BioRxiv before peer review.
In contrast to the previous study, which focused on one important mutation, the new research tested all ten mutations on the ear protein of the virus, helping it to bind to the cells in the host. This is a promising but not decisive result, as scientists are closely monitoring whether mutations in the virus make it possible to adapt the vaccines.
Antibodies in the blood of 16 volunteers in a previous German trial with the vaccine were just as effective against the laboratory-created mutant strain as against the original virus. The result “makes it very unlikely that the British virus will escape protection against the vaccine”, writes the research team led by Ugur Sahin, CEO of BioNTech.
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A healthcare worker is preparing a dose of Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 at the Mother-and-Child Hospital in Belgrade, Serbia, on Sunday, January 10, 2021. The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) has signed an agreement with the Serbian government to provide 2 million doses of Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine, RDIF said in a statement.
The BioNTech team is nonetheless ready to adapt the vaccine if needed in the future, he said. It may be necessary to protect against other tribes amid evidence that another variant that originated in South Africa is more difficult to verify.
A separate study on stress raises concerns. Scientists have found that half of the blood samples from a handful of patients who have already had Covid-19 do not have the antibodies needed to protect against the South African variant that is spread all over the world.
The findings of the National Institute of Communicable Diseases in South Africa indicate that those individuals can no longer be protected from re-infection. In the other half, the antibody levels were lowered and according to the institute, the risk of re-infection could not be determined. The findings were not assessed by a peer and were based on a small sample size.
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A healthcare worker is preparing a dose of Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 at the Mother-and-Child Hospital in Belgrade, Serbia, on Sunday, January 10, 2021. The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) has signed an agreement with the Serbian government to provide 2 million doses of Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine, RDIF said in a statement.
Separately, a third study by a Rockefeller University team also highlighted the importance of closely monitoring the efficacy of vaccines against variants. The team tested mutations found in the variants first discovered in the UK and South Africa, as well as a third from Brazil, in blood samples from 20 volunteers using the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine or similar recording of Moderna Inc. got. test, the donors’ blood samples were not as effective at neutralizing the variants.
“Vaccinations may need to be updated regularly to prevent potential loss of clinical efficacy,” the Rockefeller team wrote. Like the other studies, their work was pre-printed before peer review.
(Updates with Rockefeller studied in the last two paragraphs)
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