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Local scientists have discovered that those who have been infected by the new South African variant Covid-19 in the second wave are now immune to other variants of the virus.
The 501Y.V2 variant was able to neutralize itself from other variants, including the variant that circulated in the first wave.
This positive development was announced by scientists at a briefing organized by the Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation, Blade Nzimande, and the Minister of Health, Zweli Mkhize.
Professor Tulio de Olivieria, director of the KwaZulu-Natal Research Innovation and Sequence Platform (KRISP), said that his research on the 501Y.V2 variant found that it had good neutralizing activity against itself and also other variants of concern. .
“What it means is that people who have been infected with 501Y.V2 will be immune to other variants and lineages,” he said.
Even better news is that the groundbreaking discoveries could lead to the use of the new strain to develop vaccines with a good immune response, said the chairman of the Ministerial Advisory Council, Professor Salim Abdool Karim.
“If a vaccine is based on the ability of this new variant strain, the epitopes, we can hope that there is a good chance that the vaccine will generate good immune responses that protect people from contracting 501Y.V2 and other variants. This finding basically tells us that we have a good prospect of success if we create a new vaccine based on it. “
It is not yet clear how long the protection lasts
Like other viruses, Covid-19 continues to duplicate and mutate and it is not known how long immunity lasts.
“We have known for a long time that infected people develop a good antibody response. We don’t know how long it lasts and how much antibody is enough to protect you from reinfection, ”Karim said.
“We strongly encourage people and those infected to follow the same protection routes for those who have not been infected. Keep washing your hands, disinfecting and using your mask because there are still many things that we do not understand.
Immunity due to the new variant did not mean that protected people should avoid the vaccine, De Olivieria said.
“By no means are we saying that people should not get vaccinated, but everyone should increase vaccination to avoid another wave.”
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