According to a laboratory study conducted by the U.S. drugmaker found, Pfizer Inc and BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine appeared to work against a key mutation in the highly transmissible new variants of the coronavirus discovered in the UK and South Africa.
The new variants of coronavirus are causing a major concern on the globe. However, they both share a common mutation called N501Y that is a slight alteration on one spot of the spike protein that coats the virus.
Hence, this change is supposed to be the reason they can spread so easily and rapidly.
BREAKING: Pfizer says COVID-19 vaccine appears to work against certain key mutation in variants first found in the UK and South Africa—the 501 mutation.
However, another key trouble mutation in South Africa 🇿🇦 variant has not been tested yet. 🧵 #COVID19 https://t.co/wUefVwDYF0
— Eric Feigl-Ding (@DrEricDing) January 8, 2021
What Is The Active Ingredient In The Pfizer Covid-19 Vaccine?
The active ingredient is messenger RNA that carries directions for making the virus’s spike protein, which it uses to gain entry to cells. The mRNA is synthetic and is not extracted from actual viruses.
The Vaccine Train Your Body To Recognize The Spike Protein
The vaccines that are being rolled out around the world train our body to recognize that spike protein and helps to fight it.
The researchers from the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston and Pfizer teamed up for conducting laboratory tests to see if the mutation has affected its vaccine’s ability to do so.
The Covid-19 Mutation Doesn’t Seem To Be A Problem
Blood samples of about 20 people were used who received the vaccine, made by Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech used for the study.
According to the study posted on Thursday on an online site for researchers said, antibodies from those vaccine recipients successfully fended off the virus in lab dishes.
But “it was a very reassuring finding that at least this mutation, which was one of the ones people are most concerned about, does not seem to be a problem” for the vaccine, said Pfizer chief scientific officer Dr Philip Dormitzer.
Does The Covid-19 Virus Undergo Changes?
Minor changes constantly take place in the viruses as they spread from person to person. Therefore, scientists have used these slight changes to track how the coronavirus has moved around the world since it was first detected in China last year.
British scientists have said the variant found in the UK, which has become the dominant type in parts of England, still seemed to be susceptible to vaccines. U.S. and other countries have also been detected with the new mutant.
South Africa’s Version Of The Virus
But the variant was first discovered in South Africa has an additional mutation that has scientists on edge, one named E484K.
According to Pfizer’s study, the vaccine appeared to work against 15 additional possible virus mutations, but E484K wasn’t among those tested. Dormitzer said it is next on the list.
More Mutations Might Lead To “Further Adjustments In The Vaccine”
Dormitzer mentioned if the virus ultimately mutates enough that the vaccine needs adjusting – much like flu shots are adjusted most years – that tweaking the recipe wouldn’t be difficult for his company’s shot and similar ones.
The vaccine is simple to switch and is made with a piece of the virus genetic code, although it’s not clear what kind of additional testing regulators would require to make such a change.
Dormitzer said this was only the starting “of ongoing monitoring of virus changes to see if any of them might impact on vaccine coverage.”
