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Senior manager Ugur Sahin of German Biontech, which has developed its coronary vaccine in collaboration with Pfizer, does not yet know how the vaccine will affect the new mutation.
According to Marketwatch, it says it will take two weeks to complete the necessary lab work. Only then will you have a clear answer.
In several countries, there are now fears that the new mutant variant of the coronavirus, which was discovered in the UK over the weekend, could spread further. It has already been discovered in several other countries, such as Denmark, the Netherlands, and Italy. It may also have reached Norway.
The mutated virus is creating a travel storm in Europe: – Know that what I do is irresponsible Foreigners living in the UK are speeding up their trip home for Christmas after several European countries banned entry over the weekend. 02:02 Published:
The mutated virus variant is estimated to be 70 percent more contagious than the original virus.
More than 40 countries, including Norway, have suspended flights to and from the UK to keep the mutated variant of the virus away.
Adjustments may be necessary
– At the moment we do not know if our vaccine is also capable of providing protection against the new variant. But scientifically, it is highly likely that this vaccine can also handle new virus variants, Ugur Sahin said at a news conference on Tuesday.
Adjustments to the vaccine can be made within six weeks, although this may require regulatory approval, he noted.
At the same time, the UK set a new infection record with 36,800 coronary cases in the past 24 hours.
By comparison, just over 33,360 new cases of infection were recorded on Monday and around 35,900 on Sunday, which was the previous record, writes Sky News.
On Tuesday, 691 new deaths related to coronary heart disease were also reported. The number of deaths related to coronary heart disease has thus exceeded 68,307.
The total death toll from the corona pandemic is 79,349 when all deaths in which covid is mentioned on the death certificate are included.
More than 2.1 million people have been diagnosed with corona in the UK, which is now more or less closed for Christmas.
Have “scientific confidence” that the vaccine is effective.
Ugur Sahin points out that the new variant has up to nine mutations instead of one, which is more normal. But he adds that Biontech has “scientific confidence” that the vaccine will be effective, because the proteins of the new British variant are 99 percent identical to those of the original virus.
His comments came a day after the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the European Commission approved the Biontech-Pfizer vaccine in the EU, and also in Norway. Vaccination begins already at Christmas. The EU has ordered 200 million doses of this vaccine, with the option to buy another 100 million.
Also modern tests
CNBC writes that Moderna is also testing its vaccine to see what effect it has on the mutated variant of the virus.
The United States has already used this vaccine, but the mutated variant has not yet appeared there. However, Moderna will be on the safe side. The United States is among the countries that have not imposed a temporary travel ban from the United Kingdom.
– We hope that our vaccine will also protect against the variants that have been recently described in the UK, and we will carry out more tests in the coming weeks, Moderna informs CNBC.
American infection control expert Anthony Fauci says the mutated virus may already be in the United States, but notes that mutations are common and there is no evidence that this new variant is more deadly than the original.
Since the United States began vaccinating, more than 600,000 Americans have received their first dose and more than 6.4 million doses have been administered.(Terms)Copyright Dagens Næringsliv AS and / or our suppliers. We would like you to share our cases via a link, which leads directly to our pages. Copying or other use of all or part of the content can only be done with written permission or as permitted by law. For more terms, see here.
