Scientists report worrying signs that recent mutations in the virus causing COVID-19 may modestly limit the effectiveness of two current vaccines, although they stress that the shots are still protected against the disease.
Researchers on Wednesday expressed concern about the preliminary findings, mainly because they suggest that future mutations could undermine vaccines. The research tested coronaviruses from the United Kingdom, South Africa and Brazil, and was led by Rockefeller University in New York with scientists from the National Institutes of Health and elsewhere.
Another, more limited study Wednesday gave encouraging news about the protection of one vaccine against some mutations.
One way vaccines work is to stimulate the immune system to make antibodies that infect the virus against cells. The Rockefeller researchers obtained blood samples from 20 people who received the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine and tested their antibodies against various virus mutations in the laboratory.
In some, the antibodies did not work as well against the virus – the activity was one to three times less, depending on the mutation, the study leader, dr. Michel Nussenzweig, Rockefeller said.
“It’s a small difference, but it’s definitely a difference,” he said. The antibody response is “not so good” in blocking the virus.
Previous research has established that the two vaccines are approximately 95% effective in preventing COVID-19 disease.
The latest findings were posted on an online website for researchers late Tuesday and have not yet been published in a journal or reviewed by other scientists. Nussenzweig is paid by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, which also supports scientific coverage at The Associated Press. The university has applied for a patent related to its work.
The coronavirus has become genetically diverse, and according to scientists, the high percentage of new cases is the main reason. Each new infection gives the virus a chance to mutate as it makes copies of itself.
Recent variants, or versions of the virus that originated in the UK, South Africa and Brazil, appear to be spreading more easily, and scientists say this will lead to more cases, deaths and hospitalizations. The new variants do not seem to cause more serious diseases, but their ability to eventually suppress vaccines is worrying.
E. John Wherry, an immunology expert at the University of Pennsylvania, said the Rockefeller scientists are “among the very best in the world” with this work and their results are worrying.
“We do not want people to think that the current vaccine is outdated. That is absolutely not true, “he said. “There is still immunity here … a good level of protection,” but the mutations ‘actually diminish how well our immune response recognizes the virus.’
The news comes at a “very important time in the pandemic”, said Dr. Buddy Creech, a vaccine specialist at Vanderbilt University, said.
‘We have an arms race between the vaccines and the virus. The slower our vaccine rolls out around the world, the more opportunities we offer this virus to escape and develop mutations, he said.
Dr Matthew Woodruff, an immunology researcher at Emory University, agrees.
“It’s going to be a slow course of evolution. We will have to have tools that develop slowly with it, ‘like treatments that offer against one rather than antibodies,’ he said.
Dr. Drew Weissman, a scientist at the University of Pennsylvania whose work led to the introduction of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, said the antibody findings were worrying, but noted that vaccines are also protected in other ways, such as preventing reactions. from other parts of the immune system. The new job involved only 20 people and not a huge variety of ages or races, “and it all matters” in how general the results are, he said.
On Wednesday, Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech reported a second round of reassuring findings about the vaccine against one of the variants.
Earlier this month, Pfizer and researchers from the University of Texas’ medical branch said the vaccine remains effective against a mutation called N501Y of new variants found in the United Kingdom and South Africa. There was also no sign of problems when they tested some additional mutations.
The latest work has tested all the mutations of the variant from the UK simultaneously rather than one-by-one. Tests of 16 vaccine recipients showed no major difference in the ability of antibodies to block the virus, the researchers said in a report.
Pfizer did not immediately comment on Rockefeller’s findings, but the chief scientific officer, Dr. Philip Dormitzer, said earlier that the next steps include testing the vaccine against additional mutations found in the variant from South Africa.
Moderna and AstraZeneca, which manufacture a different type of COVID-19 vaccine used in some countries, have also tested how their vaccines resist different mutations.
If the virus eventually mutates enough to make the vaccine adapt – just as the flu shots change most years, the recipe adapt will not be difficult for vaccines manufactured with newer technologies. Both Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are manufactured with a piece of virus genetic code that can be easily converted.
It is a wishful thinking to believe that first-generation vaccines will be enough, or that vaccines alone will solve our problems, said dr. Gregory Poland, expert on the vaccine for the Mayo Clinic, said.
“We are shooting ourselves in the foot by allowing this virus to transmit” and not doing ‘common sense’ measures like wearing a mask like some other countries do, “he said.
‘How can the pubs and restaurants be full? It’s like ‘what pandemic?’ We harvested the seeds we sowed, ‘he said.
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Lauran Neergaard, medical author, reported.
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The Associated Press Health and Science Division receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.