Sir John Bell, a professor at Oxford University in the UK, told CNBC on Wednesday that he was confident the Covid-19 vaccine could be reintroduced to provide effective protection against future coronavirus mutations.
Bell’s comments on “Closing Bell” have come because global attention is focused on strains of the virus, which is widespread in the UK, that spreads more easily than previous types. It has since been found in Colorado and California.
“Now it’s going to be a cat and mouse game,” said Belle, who helped oversee the development of the Ox Xford vaccine in partnership with AstraZeneca. The UK government on Wednesday approved the use of the vaccine emergency after giving limited approval to Pfizer and Bioentech vaccines earlier this month.
Bell said a study is underway to officially determine whether the Xford-AstraZeneca vaccine protects against the strain of the new virus. “We think they can possibly do this, but we just want to be absolutely sure.”
“Given the level of disease in the UK with the new variant … we will have a lot of examples of people who have been exposed to the vaccine, and we’ll talk about it soon. Belle added that the vaccine is really protective against that strain.”
In addition to the coronavirus type found in Great Britain, a different strain found for the first time in South Africa has been noticed. U.S. Department of Disease Control and Prevention Center officials said Wednesday that it could also be circulating in the United States.
Belle CNBC He said he believes the variables discovered in South Africa are “a little more worrying” than the strains in the UK, although Bell expressed confidence in how scientists would handle any mutations in the virus given by existing vaccines. Avoids protection.
“If we want to make new vaccines, we can make it now that we’ve done the initial work. I’m sure our friends with the RNA vaccine can do the same,” Bell said. Pfizer-Bioentech and Modern vaccines Messenger RNA Was developed using technology, a new way to use genetic material to provoke an immune response. The Ox Xford-AstraZeneca viral vector vaccine uses a weaker version of the common cold virus that causes infections in chimpanzees.
Belle added, “We’re ready if we need to make another vaccine to get to her.” He also noted that large-scale clinical trials conducted this year would not be likely in the development process to update vaccines, just to study the immune system, to make sure it responds to the immune response.
According to Dr. Scott Gottlieb, former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner on Pfizer’s board of directors, mutations in the virus are not uncommon. “Some viruses, like the flu, develop their surface proteins very quickly and that’s why we need a different flu vaccine every month,” he told CNBC earlier this month.
Gottlieb said he then also believes that existing vaccines will protect against the strain of the virus that has spread across Europe as these vaccines target the entire spike protein of the coronavirus.
“We are developing antibodies to many different regions of that protein, so even if it changes to one part of the protein and some antibodies do not recognize it, it will still be antibodies to other parts of that protein.” “So this may not make our vaccines slip very easily, but eventually we will have to update the vaccines.”
Disclosure: Scott Gottlieb is a CNBC contributor and a board member of Pfizer, genetic testing start-up Tempus and biotech company Illumina. Gottlieb Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings અને and the Royal Caribbean’s “Healthy Sail Panel.” Also serves as co-chair of.
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