Filenews 9 March 2021
The vaccine of the U.S.-German consortium of Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE for the new coronavirus was able to neutralize its expanding stem that is spreading rapidly in Brazil, according to a study in the lab whose findings were published in the New England Journal of Medicine yesterday Monday.
Blood samples of people who have received the vaccine neutralized a laboratory-made version of the virus with the same mutations in the viral protein-spike segment of the highly infectious variant P.1, which was first identified in Brazil, according to the study, which was conducted by scientists from both companies and the medical school of the University of Texas.
According to the scientists, the neutralization was roughly the same as the impact on a previous, less infectious variant of the new coronavirus detected last year.
The chosen viral protein-spike, which the virus uses to invade human cells, is the target of many of the vaccines that have been developed so far.
In previous published studies, Pfizer's vaccine was found to neutralise other more infectiously variant strains of SARS-CoV-2, originally identified in the UK and South Africa. However, the South African variant may reduce the protective antibodies created by the vaccine.
Pfizer says it believes its vaccine, as it is, probably provides protection against the South African variant. However, the pharmaceutical industry intends to test a third, booster dose, as well as a version of the product specifically made for the South African variant, in order to better understand the immune response.
Source: protothema.gr
