NEW DELHI: A laboratory study conducted by the drug maker Pfizer has revealed that the COVID-19 vaccine developed by them and BioNTech is effective against the new highly transmissible mutation of the novel coronavirus discovered in South Africa and the United Kingdom (UK). The study by Pfizer and scientists from the University of Texas Medical Branch stated that the vaccine was able to neutralize the virus with the N501Y mutation.
The study was conducted on the blood samples of people who have already been provided the vaccine shots. The findings of the study are limited as it does not test the complete set of mutations found in the new variant of novel coronavirus. Phil Dormitzer, Vaccine Scientist, Pfizer, said that the company has tested the vaccine for 16 different possible mutations and none of them had any significant impact. He added that another mutation from South Africa variant is raising concerns called the E484K mutation.
The researchers have planned to run similar tests to check if the vaccine is effective against the new mutations from the UK and South Africa and hope to have more data within weeks. However, scientists are concerned that the vaccine may not be affective against the new variant, particularly the mutation that emerged in South Africa.