Last month, COVID’s numbers stabilized and then rebounded on a dangerous trajectory that suggests that we are far from out of danger. Experts say the increase in the case count in the US is probably due to two things: relaxed restrictions and the presence of new, more contagious variants from the UK, Brazil and South Africa. These strains add a new unpredictable element to the pandemic, which many Medical professionals warn that it can frustrate our efforts to achieve collective immunity.
However, there are many reasons to be cautiously optimistic about the future of the pandemic, with vaccines being the main ones. With three highly effective shots on the market, we now have a way to resist these new variants of COVID, slowing their spread. And while any of the current vaccines May To be effective against emerging variants, only one company has formally evaluated its own product and found it to be effective against these new threats. Read on to find out which vaccine was put to the test and for more breaking news about vaccines, check out Pfizer’s Vaccine protects you for at least this time, the study found.
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A team of researchers from Pfizer and the University of Texas Medical Branch decided to answer the question of whether vaccines designed to combat older variants of COVID protect against newer strains. Finally, by publishing its results in the New England Journal of Medicine, they set up a laboratory test to test antibodies in serum samples from 15 volunteers who received both doses of the vaccine. Within this small sample, they found that the vaccine generated a “substantial” antibody response to laboratory-engineered versions of the virus variants.
“Taken together, these results indicate that this vaccine is likely to be effective against the variants studied, although precisely how effective they are in the real world will require data on the real effect of the vaccine on populations, not just in laboratory studies like this , “reports BBC Science Focus magazine. New studies are likely to examine other aspects of the immune response, including T-cell (cellular) immunity, they explain. And for more health news delivered straight to your inbox, sign up for our daily newsletter.
Although Pfizer appears to protect against all new variants, the study found that this was to varying degrees, depending on the type of variant. The team found that the shot was more protective against the original strain and the B117 variant first detected in the UK, while provoking a slightly lesser response against Brazil’s P1 variant. The Pfizer vaccine was found to be less against the B151 variant first identified in South Africa.
“Tranquilizer, although the levels were lower for the P1 and B151 variants, they were still substantial and probably indicate that the vaccine will be effective,” Peter English, MD, a consultant in communicable disease control, said Focus on Science. And to learn more about Pfizer’s injection performance, check out The Pfizer vaccine is 100 percent effective for people of that age, the study says.
As Reuters reports, Pfizer announced a Phase 3 update to the trial data on April 1: its two-dose vaccine is now considered 91 percent effective, an overall effectiveness rate slightly lower than previously announced.
The additional data came from 12,000 individuals who were inoculated for at least six months, as well as “a small subset of study volunteers in South Africa”, where variant B151 is prevalent. Although at face value, this may appear to tarnish the results of the initial trial of 44,000 volunteers, this news actually confirms that the Pfizer vaccine offers potent protection in an increasingly complicated pandemic scenario.
Although the current Pfizer vaccine appears to offer significant protection against COVID variants, the company reiterated this week that it is still anticipating the need for booster vaccines and an improved vaccine.
On February 25, the drugmaker announced that it would begin evaluating booster doses against the new variants. “Our proactive clinical development strategy aims to create the foundation today, which will allow us to meet the challenges of tomorrow. We want to be prepared for different scenarios, ” Ugur Sahin, CEO and co-founder of BioNTech said in the announcement. “Therefore, we will be evaluating a second reinforcement in the current regime, as well as preparing for a potential rapid adaptation of the vaccine to deal with new variants that may escape the current version of our mRNA-based vaccine,” he added. And to learn more about the effectiveness of the Pfizer vaccine, check out The Pfizer vaccine may be less effective if you have this common condition.