Researchers from Pfizer and the University of Texas recently released their study saying it appears to retain its effectiveness against the new variants of the new coronavirus.
In a statement, Pfizer/BioNTech said that early tests suggest their immunization would be similarly protective against the variant in South Africa.
Their preliminary findings showed that they “do not indicate the need for a new vaccine to address the emerging variants.”
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If a new strain is shown to be able to evade the immunity of the vaccine, both companies assure that they are “prepared to respond”, adding that they can produce updates to their jab if needed.
This recent study is yet to be peer-reviewed.
They compared the antibodies of 20 people who had received two doses of the vaccine during the clinical trials with lab-engineered sets of mutations present in the variants that emerged in Britain and South Africa.
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The study found that antibodies were able to neutralize all the sets of mutations tested.
Their statement came following the announcement of US biotech firm Moderna that its vaccine should protect against the variants first found in the United Kingdom and South Africa. (ES)
