Transport Secretary Grant Shapps warns that the virus mutation recorded for the first time in South Africa is a ‘major concern’.
A British minister raised concerns that COVID-19 vaccines may not work properly against the new highly transmissible variant of the coronavirus discovered in South Africa.
“The South African variant is worrying experts because it may be that the vaccine does not respond in the same way or does not work in exactly the same way,” Transport Secretary Grant Shapps told LBC UK radio. “This South African variant – is a major concern for scientists”.
His comments were made while the world’s leading vaccine manufacturers are racing to see if their vaccines work against new mutations of the new coronavirus, found in South Africa and the United Kingdom.
British scientists said the variant found in the UK, which has become dominant in parts of England, still seemed susceptible to vaccines. This variant has also been found in the United States and other countries.
The variant first discovered in South Africa has an additional mutation, called E484K, that makes scientists nervous.
According to a laboratory study conducted by the American pharmaceutical company Pfizer, its vaccine COVID-19, which was made in collaboration with the German company BioNTech, appeared to work against a key mutation in both variants.
The study, still without peer review, indicated that the vaccine was effective in neutralizing the virus with the so-called N501Y mutation of the spike protein.
Phil Dormitzer, one of Pfizer’s leading viral vaccine scientists, said it was “very comforting to find that at least this mutation, which is one of the most worrisome, doesn’t seem to be a problem” for the vaccine.
Most vaccines launched around the world train the body to recognize the peak protein and fight it. Pfizer teamed with researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston for laboratory testing to see if the mutation affected its vaccine’s ability to do so.
They used blood samples from 20 people who received the vaccine. Antibodies from these vaccine recipients successfully resisted the virus on laboratory plates, according to the study, which was posted on Thursday on an online website for researchers.
‘Continuous monitoring of virus changes’
Viruses constantly undergo small changes as they spread from person to person.
Scientists have used these small modifications to track how the coronavirus has moved around the globe since it was first detected in China in December 2019.
The Pfizer study found that the vaccine appeared to work against 15 possible additional virus mutations, but the E484K was not among those tested.
Dormitzer said he is next on the list.
He explained that if the virus eventually mutates enough that the vaccine needs to be adjusted, just as flu vaccines are adjusted in most years, adjusting the prescription would not be difficult for Pfizer or other vaccine producers.
The vaccine is made with a piece of the virus’s genetic code, simple to change, although it is unclear what type of additional testing regulators would require to make such a change.
Dormitzer said this was just the beginning “of continuous monitoring of virus changes to see if any of them can impact vaccine coverage”.
Anthony Fauci, the leading infectious disease specialist in the U.S., said recently that vaccines are designed to recognize various parts of the peak protein, making it unlikely that a single mutation will be sufficient to block them.