Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine protects against new strains, study appears to show
Pfizer Inc.
$26.27
11:10 24/04/24
A new study showed that the Covid-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech might protect against variants of the novel coronavirus recently detected in the UK and South Africa.
BIONTECH SP ADS
$88.09
13:09 24/04/24
Dow Jones I.A.
38,460.92
04:30 15/10/20
Antibodies from patients who had been vaccinated were able to defeat lab-created versions of the new strains just the same as the older ones, according to the findings of a study conducted by the University of Texas Medical Branch.
The new variant detected in the UK had been found to be roughly 56% more transmissible than the prior dominant strain in the country, making the task of curbing its spread more challenging, at one point fanning worries that the vaccines now being rolled-out might be less effective, considerably less so even.
Researchers however only analysed one of the mutations in the new virus and it was not yet known if the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine would keep people from getting infected in the first place, Shore Capital analyst, Adam Barker, told Bloomberg.
"This is clearly a positive, but there are important caveats to add," Barker reportedly said.
"That being said, the working assumption remains that vaccines will be at least partly effective against the novel variants."
The new strain of SARS-CoV-2 detected in the UK is thought to be between 57% and 70% more transmissible than other strains.
According to the researchers themselves, their findings were consistent with results from tests on 15 other mutations in SARS-Cov-2 strains, the virus that provokes Covid-19.
Results from the University of Texas were published overnight on bioRxiv but had yet to be peer-reviewed.
As of 1222 GMT, shares of BioNTech were climbing 6.69% to $99.96.