(Bloomberg) – Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE have argued that their Covid-19 vaccine will protect against the new coronavirus variant that emerged in the UK with the results of another laboratory test.
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Vials of the Pfizer BioNtech Covid-19 vaccine at Hospital Centenario Miguel Hidalgo in Aguascalientes, Mexico, on Thursday, January 14, 2020. The number of confirmed cases of coronavirus outbreaks in Mexico is 1.57 million at 7:30 am. City, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University and Bloomberg News.
Like previous work by the University of Texas Medical Branch, the results published on Wednesday showed that antibodies in the blood of people who were vaccinated were able to neutralize a version of the mutant virus that was created in the laboratory. The study was published on the prepress server BioRxiv before peer review.
Unlike the previous study, which focused on one crucial mutation, the new research tested all 10 mutations located in the virus’s spike protein, which helps it bind to host cells. It is a promising but not conclusive result, as scientists continue to monitor closely whether mutations in the virus may make it necessary to adjust vaccines.
Antibodies in the blood of 16 volunteers in a previous test of the vaccine in Germany were as effective against the mutant strain created in the laboratory as against the original virus. The result “makes it very unlikely that variant viruses in the UK will escape” from vaccine protection, wrote the research team, led by BioNTech CEO Ugur Sahin.
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A healthcare professional prepares a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine at Maternal Children’s 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 the Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine, RDIF said in a statement.
The BioNTech team is, however, ready to adapt the vaccine if necessary in the future, he said. This may become necessary to protect against other strains amid evidence that another variant that has emerged in South Africa may be more difficult to verify.
A separate study on this strain has raised concern. The scientists found that half of the blood samples from a handful of patients who already had Covid-19 did not have the necessary antibodies to protect against the South African variant, which is spreading around the world.
The findings, from the National Institute of Communicable Diseases in South Africa, suggest that these individuals may no longer be protected from reinfection. In the other half, antibody levels were reduced and the risk of reinfection could not be determined, according to the institute. The results were not peer-reviewed and were based on a small sample size.
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A healthcare professional prepares a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine at Maternal Children’s 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 the Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine, RDIF said in a statement.
Separately, a third study by a Rockefeller University team also highlighted the importance of keeping a close watch on the effectiveness of vaccines against variants. The team tested mutations found in variants discovered for the first time in the UK and South Africa, as well as a third in Brazil, on blood samples from 20 volunteers who received the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine or a similar injection from Moderna Inc. test , donor blood samples were not as effective in neutralizing the variants.
“Vaccines may need to be updated periodically to avoid the potential loss of clinical efficacy,” wrote the Rockefeller team. Like the other studies, his work was presented in prepress, before peer review.
(Updates with the Rockefeller study in the final two paragraphs)
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