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New research suggests that Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine may protect against mutations in two highly contagious forms of coronavirus outbreaks in Britain and South Africa.
Those types are causing global concern. They both share a common mutation called N501Y, which is a slight change in the location of a spike protein that coats the virus. It is believed that the change is due to the fact that they spread easily.
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Most vaccinated vaccines around the world train the body to recognize and fight spike proteins. Pfizer teamed up with researchers from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston for laboratory tests to see if the mutation affected his vaccine’s ability to do so.
They used blood samples from 20 people who had been vaccinated by Pfizer and his German partner Bioentech, during a large study of shots. Antibodies to vaccine recipients successfully prevented the virus in lab dishes, according to a study conducted late Thursday night at the site for researchers.
The study is preliminary and has not yet been reviewed by experts, which is an important step for medical research.
“It was very reassuring that at least this change, which is of most concern to people, does not seem to be a problem,” said Dr. Philip Dormitzer, Pfizer’s chief scientific officer.
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As the virus spreads from person to person, there are constant minor changes. Scientists have made a few changes to track how the coronavirus travels around the world since it was first discovered in China about a year ago.
British scientists say the variant seen in the UK – which has become the dominant type in parts of England – still seems to be sensitive to the vaccine. That mutant has now been found in the US and numerous other countries.
But the variant found for the first time in South Africa has an additional variation with scientists on the edge, named E484K.
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Pfizer’s study found that the vaccine was found to work against 15 additional virus mutations, but E484K was not among those tested. Dormitzer said he is at the top of the list.
| Ticker | Security | The last | Change | Change% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P.F.E. | PFIZER INC. | 37.06 | +0.19 | + 0.52% |
Dr. Anthony Fauci, a top infectious disease specialist in the US, recently said that the vaccine is designed to identify many parts of spike proteins, making it possible that even a single mutation could block them. But scientists around the world are researching different vaccines to find out.
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Dormitzer said that if the virus eventually gets enough or the vaccine needs to be adjusted – as flu shots are adjusted most years – tweaking that recipe won’t be difficult for his company’s shots and the like. This vaccine is made from a piece of virus genetic code, easy to switch, however, it is not clear what kind of additional testing regulators will be needed for that change.
Dormitzer said this is just the beginning “of ongoing monitoring of virus changes to see if any of them affect vaccine coverage.”
