Inactivated vaccines like Sinopharm may be more effective against fighting new mutated strains of the new coronavirus (COVID-19).
According to Luke O’Neill, professor of biochemistry in the School of Biochemistry and Immunology at Trinity College Dublin, inactivated vaccines are based on the whole virus, the immune system will have “lots of weapons against lots of parts of the vaccine”.
Similar to the UAE-approved Sinopharm, these vaccines use a “dead” version of the whole virus, offering protection against multiple areas.
Most of the vaccines being procured by different countries worldwide target the spike protein on the surface of the coronavirus, which the virus uses to enter cells. O’Neill, in a report by The National, said that such vaccines may be less effective since these are just against the spike protein.
However, there is no clear study yet how much the spike vaccines will be affected by the variants.
He added that the Pfizer vaccine still generates antibodies against the UK variant, as it also is expected to generate a T-cell response.
Sinopharm and other inactivated vaccines are also expected to do this. (ES)
