| Updated January 22, 2021
A new study indicates that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is effective against the more contagious COVID-19 variant that was first discovered in Britain and is spreading across the world.
The variant, known as B.1.1.7, has been traced to at least 10 states, and will likely become the prominent version of the disease in the U.S. by March. Researchers believe the variant is at least 50% more contagious than the standard strain of COVID-19.
The study, released this week, is preliminary. It was conducted by scientists working for Pfizer and BioNTech, and has not yet been peer reviewed. But the findings support research earlier this month that the vaccine had equivalent “neutralizing” effects on a key mutation in both the British variant and one that was discovered in South Africa.
Novel neutralizing antibodies targeting SARS-CoV-2 N-terminal domain discovered
The main thrust of scientific research on therapeutics to counter the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has been aimed at identifying drugs and antibodies that can act against the entry of the causative virus, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), into the host cell.
A new study by US-based researchers shows the presence of protective antibodies that target the N-terminal domain (NTD) of the spike instead of the spike receptor-binding domain (RBD).
Spike protein
Viral entry is mediated by the spike protein of the virus, which binds to the host cell receptor, angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), via the RBD. The spike is a trimeric glycoprotein with two subunits to each protomer, the S1 and the S2. The S1 contains the RBD, and is responsible for binding the ACE2.
“That is not a seasonal change or just a random bad year, Faust said. That is what every person who can correctly attest to these numbers can plainly see is a historic increase in excess mortality. If we put that together with the number of coronavirus deaths, it’s game, set, match.”
Excess deaths are defined as the difference between the observed numbers of deaths in specific time periods and expected numbers of deaths in the same time periods.
The CDC predicts excess deaths since Feb. 1 may be between 350,000 and 469,000. Faust says some
models project the number may be closer to 430,000.