Further preliminary results in the laboratory suggest that the Pfizer / BioNTech coronavirus vaccine will be effective against the new most contagious coronavirus strains first identified in South Africa and the United Kingdom.
As in previous studies, antibodies were slightly less effective against the virus with three key mutations in the variant identified in South Africa. However, Pfizer and BioNTech said that “the small differences in viral neutralization observed in these studies are unlikely to lead to a significant reduction in vaccine efficacy.”
The researchers designed laboratory versions of the virus that carry some of the mutations found in the variants. They tested them against the blood drawn from 20 people who had received two doses of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine as part of a clinical trial.
The laboratory study, conducted by researchers at Pfizer and the medical branch of the University of Texas, did not test all the mutations found in the variants and the researchers note that “clinical data are needed to draw firm conclusions about the ‘effectiveness of the vaccine against variant viruses’.
The results were published Wednesday on the bioRxiv prepress server and have not yet been peer-reviewed or published in a medical journal.
Pfizer and BioNTech said Wednesday that a new variant vaccine does not appear necessary. In a press release, they said they will continue to monitor the strains and conduct studies to monitor the effectiveness of the vaccine in the real world. Pfizer said earlier this week that it was “preparing the groundwork” to create a vaccine booster that could respond to coronavirus variants, if necessary.
Modern, the maker of the other U.S.-authorized coronavirus vaccine, said this week that its Covid-19 vaccine created antibodies that neutralized coronavirus variants first found in the United Kingdom and South Africa, and that he planned to try a reinforcement against the “By great precaution” variants.
## Vaccines