Feb 27, 2021, 02:30 am
The Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine loses some potency against the coronavirus variant that first appeared in South Africa, researchers reported Wednesday, based on lab experiments.
What the findings mean for how well the vaccine will protect real people from the variant, called B.1.351, is hard to tell. But clinical data from three other vaccines — those from AstraZeneca, Novavax, and Johnson & Johnson — have already shown the shots are not as powerful at blocking symptomatic Covid-19 cases caused by B.1.351 as by other forms of the virus.
In the new study, which was published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers from Pfizer, BioNTech, and the University of Texas Medical Branch examined how well blood taken from people who had received the companies’ shot fought off a virus engineered to have the key mutations found in B.1.351. They reported that there was about a two-thirds drop in neutralization power against the variant compared to other forms of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.
Based on the available data, some experts fear that the immunity elicited by vaccines won’t last as long against B.1.351 as against other variants, and that the immunizations won’t be able to drag down transmission of B.1.351 as well as they appear to be limiting the spread of other variants.
Both the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines finished clinical trials before the emergence of B.1.351 and other variants of concern, so there are no clinical data for how they defend against the newer iterations of the virus. But in their trials, both were shown to be greater than 90% efficacious at preventing symptomatic Covid-19, so some experts have argued that even if they lose some of their oomph against particular variants, they have enough cushion to remain highly protective. But the drops in efficacy in the Novavax and J&J trials against the variant have led some experts to believe that the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines would show similar declines if they were tested against B.1.351 in clinical settings.
Earlier this month, South Africa halted the rollout of the AstraZeneca vaccine after an analysis showed it only “provided minimal protection” against mild Covid-19, though the data were based on a small number of patients and researchers are still investigating.
https://www.statnews.com/2021/02/17/pfiz...s-variant/
What the findings mean for how well the vaccine will protect real people from the variant, called B.1.351, is hard to tell. But clinical data from three other vaccines — those from AstraZeneca, Novavax, and Johnson & Johnson — have already shown the shots are not as powerful at blocking symptomatic Covid-19 cases caused by B.1.351 as by other forms of the virus.
In the new study, which was published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers from Pfizer, BioNTech, and the University of Texas Medical Branch examined how well blood taken from people who had received the companies’ shot fought off a virus engineered to have the key mutations found in B.1.351. They reported that there was about a two-thirds drop in neutralization power against the variant compared to other forms of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.
Based on the available data, some experts fear that the immunity elicited by vaccines won’t last as long against B.1.351 as against other variants, and that the immunizations won’t be able to drag down transmission of B.1.351 as well as they appear to be limiting the spread of other variants.
Both the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines finished clinical trials before the emergence of B.1.351 and other variants of concern, so there are no clinical data for how they defend against the newer iterations of the virus. But in their trials, both were shown to be greater than 90% efficacious at preventing symptomatic Covid-19, so some experts have argued that even if they lose some of their oomph against particular variants, they have enough cushion to remain highly protective. But the drops in efficacy in the Novavax and J&J trials against the variant have led some experts to believe that the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines would show similar declines if they were tested against B.1.351 in clinical settings.
Earlier this month, South Africa halted the rollout of the AstraZeneca vaccine after an analysis showed it only “provided minimal protection” against mild Covid-19, though the data were based on a small number of patients and researchers are still investigating.
https://www.statnews.com/2021/02/17/pfiz...s-variant/