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Pfizer and BioNtech have announced that their vaccine is effective against the COVID-19 variant that has appeared in the United Kingdom.
The American pharmacy Pfizer and its German partner BioNtech have announced that the COVID-19 vaccine they developed together is effective against the variant of the virus that appeared at the end of 2020 in Great Britain and has already spread all over the world. The news was confirmed on Wednesday based on laboratory results.
Pfizer and BioNtech said the study was based on ten mutations in COVID-19 known as B117, which appeared in the UK in November 2020, much more infectious than the type of coronavirus that has hit the planet so far.
The study is signed by Ugur Sahin and Oezlem Tuereci, co-founders of the German company BioNtech. Sahin is the CEO of the company, and Tuereci, his wife, is the medical director.
Other data on immune responses following the Pfizer mRNA vaccine against pseudovirus carrying the Spike protein with mutations in variant B.1.1.7 (del69 / 70, del 144/145, N501Y, A570D, P681H, T716I, S982A, D1118H). There is a modest reduction in the effectiveness of vaccine sera.
– Gupta Lab, Cambridge (@GuptaR_lab) January 18, 2021
Of the 15 subjects with neutralizing activity three weeks after the Pfizer mRNA vaccine, 10 showed evidence of reduced antibody efficacy against mutant B.1.1.7 (Fold change> 3). The highest change in folds was 6. The median change in folds was 3.85 (IQR 2.68-5.28). pic.twitter.com/0CvN3qrYw6
– Gupta Lab, Cambridge (@GuptaR_lab) January 18, 2021
The news is encouraging for the scientific community fighting the coronavirus, as it implies that the development of the vaccine must not be resumed. The UK is going through days of deep perplexity, as it watches as the mortality rate rises due to this variation in COVID-19.
Study of the Pfizer and BioNteh pseudovirus
Pfizer and BioNtech have announced that their coronavirus vaccine is effective against the virus variant launched in late 2020 in the UK. These were based on a trial involving 16 volunteers.
All 16 people who participated in the Pfizer and BioNteh study have already been vaccinated against COVID-19. They were exposed to a synthetic virus labeled pseudovirus. The pseudovirus designed for this study contained the same protein as the B117 coronavirus variant.
The results showed that the antibodies generated by the 16 vaccinated volunteers (Comirnaty or BNT162b2) eliminated the pseudovirus with the same efficiency with which they defeated the proteins from the previous version of the coronavirus.
Israel questions the effectiveness of the Pfizer vaccine
Single dose of Covid vaccine in Israel “less effective than I thought” https://t.co/vowqDsY0Lr
– The Guardian (@guardian) January 19, 2021
Israel has questioned whether the effectiveness of the first dose of Pfizer vaccine and the BioNtech coronavirus is as effective as indicated by the manufacturing companies.
Nachman Ash, an Israeli pandemic strategy designer, questioned the data provided by the companies that developed the vaccine.
“Many people were infected between the first and second doses of the Pfizer vaccine,” he said in a dialogue with Radio Army on Tuesday afternoon.
According to figures released by the Israeli Ministry of Health, 12,400 people tested positive for coronavirus after applying the first dose of Pfizer and BioNtech vaccine. Another 69 people were diagnosed with the disease after receiving a second vaccine application.
It seems that the protection offered by the first dose is less effective than I thought. He also stressed that data on protection against the SARS-CoV-2 virus after the first dose are “lower than those presented by Pfizer,” added Nachman Ash.
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