Pfizer's COVID-19 Vaccine Works Against The New Coronavirus Strain Found In The UK, Study Finds

According to Pfizer, its COVID-19 vaccine is effective against the newly found coronavirus strain in South Africa and the United Kingdom. The new study about BioNTech and Pfizer’s vaccine, which has not been peer-reviewed, revealed that the vaccine appears to work against the new strain of coronavirus found in South Africa and the UK, which has also infected multiple people in India.

Leading the study was the University of Texas Medical Branch and Pfizer, Reuters reported.

After the new strain was found, many have been doubting whether the existing COVID-19 vaccines would be effective against it. However, it’s likely that some of them work, even AstraZeneca said that its COVID-19 vaccine likely works against the new strain.

It’s indicated in the new study that Pfizer’s vaccine was able to neutralize the spike protein’s new mutation. So far, many fear that the new variant of the coronavirus has a higher transmissibility rate and that it could make the virus escape the vaccine’s antibody neutralization, as stated by one of the top viral vaccine scientists at Pfizer, Phil Dormitzer.

In the new study, researchers took blood samples from people that had received the vaccine. Nevertheless, for now, the findings are still limited so we cannot be too confident. The study didn’t look into the whole set of mutations found in both the new variants. Dormitzer said:

“So we’ve now tested 16 different mutations, and none of them have really had any significant impact. That’s the good news. That doesn’t mean that the 17th won’t.”

The team plans to conduct more tests to make sure their vaccine works against other mutations in the variants found in South Africa and the UK.

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