NEW evidence suggests that the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine will likely be effective against the variants of the coronavirus detected in the United Kingdom and South Africa. Both of the variants contain a mutation within the spike protein, called the N501Y mutation, that’s thought to improve the virus’s ability to bind to our cells, making it more infectious. In a new study conducted by scientists from Pfizer and The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, the Pfizer vaccine proved to be effective on strains with the N501Y mutation. The variant first detected in South Africa contains other mutations within the spike protein, which raises concern these mutations could undermine the vaccines. However, infectious disease experts remain confident that the vaccines will work against these variants and new ones that come our way. Mutations to the spike protein have concerned researchers because the vaccines are designed to identify and go after the viral spike protein. “The Moderna and the Pfizer RNA vaccines — the two that are approved for emergency use in the U.S. — those are both vaccines that immunize you against the spike protein,” said Dr. Ellen F. Foxman, an immunologist and Yale Medicine Laboratory Medicine physician. Foxman said they want to ensure any changes to the spike protein don’t impact the high efficacy reported in the vaccine clinical trials. Researchers have been studying how the COVID-19 vaccines will respond to the variants, and the findings are promising. In the new study the researchers looked at postvaccination sera from 20 participants and found it successfully neutralized the coronavirus. This suggests the variants identified in the United Kingdom and South Africa with the N501Y mutations won’t diminish the effectiveness of the vaccines. The variant in South Africa contains several other mutations, one of which is also located in the spike protein. “It is unlikely that single mutations would render a vaccine ineffective. Vaccines induce a whole host of antibodies directed at various parts of the spike protein as well as T-cell immunity so it’s not surprising to see these results,” said Dr. Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security and an infectious disease expert. As COVID-19 is spreading readily, more mutations will come.(SD-Agencies) | 