The COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech is said to work against a key mutation in the newly discovered highly transmissible variants of the coronavirus which were first spotted in the United Kingdom and South Africa. This is according to a laboratory study that was conducted by the US drugmaker.
Vaccine works on COVID-19 mutation
The study done by Pfizer and scientists from the University of Texas Medical Branch showed that the COVID-19 vaccine was effective in neutralizing the mutated virus of the spike protein called N501Y, according to WHO.
Phil Dormitzer, one of the top viral vaccine scientists of Pfizer, said that the mutation could be responsible for greater transmissibility and there had been concern that it could also make the virus escape antibody neutralization that is elicited by the COVID-19 vaccine.
The study was done on the blood that was taken from those who had been given the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech. Its findings are very limited, because it does not review the full set of mutations found in either of the new COVID-19 variants of the virus that is spreading fast.
Dormitzer stated that the result was encouraging as it shows that the current vaccine is effective against the coronavirus mutation and the 15 other mutations that the company has previously tested against. He said that they have now tested 16 different mutations, and none of them have had any significant impact and they see it as a good news.
Dormitzer also noted that another mutation of the coronavirus was found in the South African variant. It is called the E484K mutation and they are concerned about how fast it is transmitted, according to Business Insider.
The researchers are now planning to run the same tests to see if the COVID-19 vaccine is effective against other mutations that are found in the United Kingdom and South Africa and they are aiming to get more data within weeks so they can start the study process.
Scientists have now expressed their concern that the vaccines that are being rolled out may not be able to protect the public against the newly detected variants, especially the one that was discovered in South Africa.
An associate professor in cellular microbiology at the University of Reading, Simon Clarke, said that while both variants had new features in common, the one that was found in South Africa has a lot of additional mutations that included more extensive alterations to the spike protein.
The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine and the vaccine from Moderna Inc. which uses the synthetic messenger RNA technology, can be adjusted in order to address new mutations of a virus if needed. Scientists have also suggested that the changes could be made in just six weeks.
COVID-19 in the United States
According to John Hopkins University, there are now 22,132,045 recorded cases of COVID-19 in the United States, with 374,124 deaths and 13,143,317 recovered cases.
Numerous states are getting ready to distribute the vaccine, which will be given in two doses, 2 weeks apart. It is still not clear how it would be rolled out since it would depend per state, but there are thousands of people who already got the vaccine, including politicians.
Related Article: COVID-19 New Variant B117: Details About the Coronavirus Mutation, Will the Current Vaccine Work?
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Written by Sieeka Khan
