A photo taken on January 15, 2021, shows a pharmacist holding in his hands a bottle of Pfizer-BioNTech undiluted vaccine for Covid-19, stored at -70 ° in a freezer of the hospital in Le Mans, northwestern France as a country is running a vaccination campaign to fight the spread of the new coronavirus.
Jean-Francois Monier | AFP | Getty Images
LONDON – The coronavirus vaccine developed by Pfizer-BioNTech is probably just as effective against a highly transmissible mutant strain of the virus that was first discovered in the UK, according to a study by the two companies.
It is estimated that the variant, known as B.1.1.7., First appeared in the UK in September 2020. It has an unusually large number of mutations and is associated with a more efficient and faster transmission.
The characteristics of the variant have led to concerns about the effectiveness of Covid vaccines against it.
However, research published on the bioRxiv prepress server showed “no biologically significant difference in neutralization activity” between the laboratory tests on B.1.1.7 and the initial coronavirus strain.
The study, which has not yet been evaluated by colleagues, found that all mutations associated with the newly discovered variant were neutralized by antibodies in the blood of 16 participants who had previously received the vaccine.
Half of the participants were between 18 and 55 years old, and the other half were between 56 and 85 years old.
The authors of the study warned that the rapid spread of Covid variants worldwide requires “continuous monitoring of the significance of changes for the protection maintained by currently authorized vaccines”.
It is the first work of its kind completed by a major vaccine manufacturer Covid, as other drug companies struggle to test the effectiveness of their own vaccinations.
Moderna and AstraZeneca, which have developed a Covid vaccine in partnership with Oxford University, have previously said they expect their vaccines to be effective against B.1.1.7.
Virus spread
Earlier this month, Dr. Ugur Sahin, co-founder and CEO of BioNTech, told CNBC that the German pharmaceutical company is confident that their vaccine will develop an immune response against B.1.1.7.
Sahin said he believes the vaccine should also be effective against a variant found in South Africa – another highly transmissible variant that has raised concerns among public health experts.
His comments came shortly after initial tests showed that the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine appeared to be effective against a key mutation in the more infectious variants of the virus found in the UK and South Africa. Now, scientists from the two companies have published research indicating that the vaccine may be effective against all mutations associated with B.1.1.7.
In recent weeks, optimism about the mass launch of Covid vaccines worldwide has been tempered by the rate of recurrence of the widespread virus.
To date, more than 96.2 million people have contracted coronavirus, with 2.05 million deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.