Biotechnology
Alexandre Winning
JOHANNESBURG, Jan. 5 (Reuters) – A coronavirus variant first detected in South Africa is unlikely to completely negate the immunizing effects of vaccines, a researcher studying it told Reuters.
British scientists expressed concern on Monday that COVID-19 vaccines may not be able to protect against the variant identified by South African genomic scientists and which has spread internationally.
Richard Lessells, an infectious disease specialist at the KwaZulu-Natal Research Innovation and Sequencing Platform, who played a central role in identifying the variant known as 501Y.V2, said his understanding is that the comments were not based on new data, but on shared data in formation.
“They are expressing the same concerns that we articulated when we first released this information, that the pattern of mutations concerned us,” said Lessells on Tuesday.
South African researchers are studying the effects of mutations in the variant, including whether the natural immunity from exposure to older variants provides protection against reinfection by the new variant.
The preliminary results of these studies may be ready by the end of this week, said Lessells.
Scientists have identified more than 20 mutations in the 501Y.V2 variant, including several in the spike protein that the virus uses to infect human cells.
One is in a location believed to be important for neutralizing antibodies and is not found in another variant of the coronavirus discovered in Britain, Lessells said.
“Why we have been a little cautious in signaling concern about the (efficacy) of vaccines is that, for many of the vaccines, they are believed to induce a very broad immune response,” he said.
This broad response can target different parts of the peak protein, not just one, he added.
“That’s why we think that while these mutations may have an effect, it is very unlikely that they will completely nullify the effect of vaccines,” said Lessells.
South Africa’s health ministry acknowledged Reuters’ questions, but did not give an immediate answer. The country recorded more than 1.1 million cases of COVID-19 and more than 30,000 deaths, mostly on the African continent.
Public Health England said there is no evidence to suggest that the COVID-19 vaccines do not protect against mutant variants of the coronavirus.
BioNTech Chief Executive Ugur Sahin said in an interview last week that his company’s vaccine, which uses messenger RNA to instruct the human immune system to fight the virus, must be able to protect against the British variant. (Reporting by Alexander Winning Editing by Joe Bavier and Alexander Smith)