Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine appears to work against mutation in new coronavirus strains, the study finds

The two strains share a mutation, known as N501Y, that scientists are worried the virus could evade immune protection through a vaccine.

In research published online on Thursday, scientists found that antibodies from people who received the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine showed ‘no reduction in neutralizing activity’ against a version of the virus carrying the N501Y mutation, which they created the laboratory.

This particular mutation appears to help the virus bind to human cells, which may partly explain why these new strains appear more transmissible. But it’s just one of the many mutations in both strains that worries scientists that the virus may be less susceptible to vaccinations or treatments.

The study – conducted by researchers from Pfizer and the medical branch of the University of Texas – does not test the full range of these mutations, nor has it been evaluated by peers.

Viruses are expected to mutate – often in ways that are neutral or even harmful to the virus – experts say that the whole is not just the sum of its parts: some mutations are known to interact, and sometimes the shape change or function of structures such as the vein protein.

“One limitation of this study is that the mutation was tested in isolation,” said Deborah Dunn-Walters, chair of the British Society for Immunology’s task force on Covid-19 and immunology, in a statement. She noted that mutations that may have a composite effect “need to be tested together.”

Because humans usually make more than one type of antibody against a virus, experts believe that such a mutation is unlikely to make the virus completely resistant to a vaccine. However, experts are not so sure that the new strains will not have an impact at all.

“We will need to see effective protection against new variants in clinical trial participants who are still working to ensure that the vaccine is equally effective,” said Alexander Edwards, associate professor of biomedical technology at the University of Reading in the United Kingdom. , said in a statement. Neither Edwards nor Dunn-Walters were involved in the new research.

Pfizer said in a statement last month that it had conducted similar tests on “multiple mutant strains. To date, we have found steady coverage of all the strains tested.”

It will be important to continue monitoring the importance of changes for vaccine coverage, the researchers wrote in the new article.

This is due to ‘the possibility that a future mutation may necessitate a change in the vaccine.’ Both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines use genetic technology that makes it possible to quickly adapt the vaccines to offset mutations.