The international medical community has announced the development and launch of effective vaccines as one of the most significant milestones in the coronavirus pandemic, creating optimism that the end is near for the worst days of the disease. But it wasn’t long after inoculations began to be released that variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus were discovered worldwide that made it more contagious than the previous dominant strain – as well as raising questions about how mutations can affect how vaccines work well. Now, a new study has suggested that the COVID vaccine or natural immunity in patients who have already recovered from the disease may not protect against infection by the new strain of the virus. Read on to see what the researchers say may be putting you at risk and for more tips that your body may be giving you, check if you have this subtle symptom, you may have already had COVID.
The antibodies have been shown to be ineffective against a variant.
The study, which was released in a pre-printed version and has not yet been peer-reviewed, collected blood from 44 patients who recovered from COVID-19 before September, when the South African strain of the virus was first discovered, CNN reports. Worryingly, the researchers found that half of the patients were not protected by their natural antibodies against the variant – officially called SARS-CoV-2 501Y.V2 – which raises concerns that vaccines will also fail to protect against the strain .
“I think we should be alarmed,” Penny Moore, PhD, associate professor at South Africa’s National Institute of Communicable Diseases and senior author of the study. “We saw a knockout. It was a scary result.”
The most severe cases of COVID generate a better immune response.
The results showed that for about half of the 44 individuals, the antibodies were unable to protect them from reinfection of the virus. However, the other half of the individuals, who experienced more severe cases of COVID during the initial infection, saw a weakened, but not completely diminished, immune response to the new strain, thanks to an increase in the original antibody response.
The researchers also found that two mutations on the surface of the South African strain directly affected the peaks that are used as targets by vaccines. “Based on Penny’s data, the vaccine is likely to be a little less effective, but we don’t know how much less effective.” David Montefiori, PhD, a virologist at Duke University Medical Center, told CNN. And to learn more about how you can stay safe, make sure you’re not doing it, your mask won’t protect you, says a study.
The researchers are now testing against the vaccine.
With the potential vulnerability exposed, researchers are now continuing to study how development could decrease vaccine effectiveness. But many fear that the evidence suggests there is a serious problem: “I have no reason to think that the results with people who have been vaccinated will be different than with people who have had a previous infection,” Montefiori told CNN.
Others point out that there are now serious consequences that can be felt in the coming days. “I am desperately concerned that in the next six to 12 weeks we will see a situation with this pandemic unlike anything we have seen so far. And that is really a challenge that I think most people have not yet realized,” Michael Osterholm, PhD, an epidemiologist at the University of Minnesota and a member of President-elect Joe Biden’s COVID-19 Transitional Advisory Board, said that New day.
The researchers emphasize that people still need to be vaccinated.
Despite the disheartening discovery, the researchers are still suggesting that as many people as possible get the vaccine to protect themselves, suggesting that the doses may create the highest antibody response needed to fight the South African strain. Moore pointed to a recent study by the Sheba Medical Center in Israel, which has not yet been peer-reviewed or posted online, which found that 102 health professionals who received both doses of the Pfizer vaccine produced blood tests that showed a very high antibody response. greater than the patients who had previously suffered from severe COVID.
“We have to remember, the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are 95 percent effective – that’s an extraordinary level of effectiveness,” Montefiori told CNN. “If it drops to 90, 80, 70 percent effective, it is still very, very good and is likely to have a big impact on the pandemic.” And for more information on what you should know before receiving your injection, see Dr. Fauci just gave you this warning about the side effects of the COVID vaccine.