[ad_1]
Capped vials used during fill and pack testing for the large-scale production of AstraZeneca and the Oxford University COVID-19 candidate vaccine.
VINCENZO PINTO / AFP via Getty Images
- AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot says his company’s COVID-19 vaccine “should remain effective” against variants of the mutated virus The Sunday Times.
- “But we can’t be sure, so we’re going to test that,” Soriot told the newspaper.
- A new strain of virus discovered in South Africa appears to be more transmissible than the original virus.
- Visit the Business Insider home page for more stories.
AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine is expected to be effective against mutant variants of Covid-19, including those discovered in South Africa and the United Kingdom.
“Until now, we believe that the vaccine should continue to be effective,” CEO Pascal Soriot told The Sunday Times.
“But we can’t be sure, so we’re going to test that,” he told the newspaper. The vaccine is currently being tested in South Africa. Saying that the AstraZeneca vaccine will protect against coronavirus strains, Soriot echoed Ugur Sahin, CEO of BioNTech. There was a “relatively high” chance that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine would work against variants, Sahin said last week. The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is also being tested in South Africa.
The new variant of the virus discovered in South Africa appears to be more transmissible than the original virus, local scientists said last week.
Further, two of the mutations in the new South African variant reduce the sensitivity of the virus to some antibodies, which means that these antibodies may not be as effective against this new variant. These mutations were not seen in newer variants in the UK and Australia.
READ | Here’s what you need to know about the new coronavirus variant, now confirmed in SA
The variant discovered in the UK could be about 70% more transmittable and had already infected about 40,000 people in the UK by midweek, according to Reuters.
The new strain was discovered in Japan on Friday, brought in by travelers from the UK, according to Reuters. About seven people, including five who had traveled from the UK to Japan, tested positive, The Associated Press reported Sunday.
On Monday, Japan plans a total ban on foreigners entering the country, in part because of the new strains, according to The Associated Press.
The UK government has signed deals for 100 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which was developed in partnership with the University of Oxford. That vaccine is the largest single order from the government, which has signed agreements for 357 million doses of various vaccines.
As of Christmas Eve, some 617,000 people in the UK had received doses of the Pfizer vaccine, according to official statistics.
The UK government is now reviewing the AstraZeneca and Moderna vaccines.
“The NHS in the UK is working incredibly hard to scale up the vaccination program as quickly as possible to make sure everyone on the priority list can easily get their vaccine,” said Nadhim Zahawi, the minister overseeing the deployment of the vaccine, in a statement.
Additional reports from Business Insider South Africa
[ad_2]
