Syringes containing the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine sit in a tray in a vaccination room at St. Joseph Hospital in Orange, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 7, 2021. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong) Photo: Associated Press
By LAURAN NEERGAARD AP Medical Writer
New research suggests that Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine can protect against a mutation found in two easier-to-spread variants of the coronavirus that erupted in Britain and South Africa.
Those variants are causing global concern. They carry multiple mutations but share one in common that’s believed to be the reason they are more contagious. Called N501Y, it is a slight alteration on one spot of the spike protein that coats the virus.
Scientific American
Could New COVID Variants Undermine Vaccines? Labs Scramble to Find Out
Researchers race to determine why variants identified in Britain and South Africa spread so quickly and whether they’ll compromise vaccines
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Paramedics assess a Covid-19 patient in Lenasia, Johannesburg, on January 4, 2021. Currently suffering a second wave of infections, of which the majority are a new variant of the coronavirus, South Africa is the hardest hit country on the African continent. Credit: Michele Spatari
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As concern grows over faster-spreading variants of coronavirus, labs worldwide are racing to unpick the biology of these viruses. Scientists want to understand why SARS-CoV-2 variants identified in the United Kingdom and South Africa seem to be spreading so quickly, and whether they might diminish the potency of vaccines or overcome natural immunity and lead to spate of reinfections.
Pfizer study suggests vaccine works against virus variant
The variants carry multiple mutations but share one in common that’s believed to be the reason they are more contagious
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New research suggests that Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine can protect against a mutation found in two easier-to-spread variants of the coronavirus that erupted in Britain and South Africa.
Those variants are causing global concern. They carry multiple mutations but share one in common that’s believed to be the reason they are more contagious. Called N501Y, it is a slight alteration on one spot of the spike protein that coats the virus.