Pfizer and BioNTech have claimed that the COVID-19 vaccine they developed can fight against the new variants of the disease that first emerged in the United Kingdom and South Africa.
The two new COVID-19 variants are believed to have led sudden spike of cases in a number of countries, prompting governments including the Philippines to impose new border closures.
On Thursday, the two companies said in a statement that the “small differences” detected in tests of the original and new variants of COVID-19 “are unlikely to lead to a significant reduction in the effectiveness of the vaccine”.
“Pfizer and BioNTech believe that the flexibility of BioNTech’s proprietary mRNA vaccine platform is well suited to develop new vaccine variants if required,” the statement reads.
The two companies said they would continue to monitor recent developments in the mutations of SARS-COV-2, the virus that causes the coronavirus disease.
