Scientists in Israel find South African variant limits efficacy of Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – A study in Israel found that one of the coronavirus vaccines is effective against the British variant of the coronavirus, but has limitations with the South African variant. The finding was made by researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev who analyzed data from people who had received the vaccine produced by Pfizer of the United States and BioNTech of Germany.

Days earlier, another paper had been published suggesting that the vaccine developed by Oxford University with AstraZeneca did not give sufficient protection when infected with the South African variant.

The variant was first detected in South Africa and was reported by the South African Department of Health on December 18th, 2020. Researchers and officials reported that the prevalence of the variant was highest among young people with no previous health conditions, but that severe cases still occurred.

South Africa’s health department suspects that the variant may be driving a second wave of the pandemic in that country’s population because the variant spreads at a faster rate compared to previous strains of the virus.

Since the December advisory, vaccine researchers have been studying whether the efficacy of immunizations was reduced in the presence of the variants. In the case of the team of researchers from Israel, they now found that the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine is moderately less effective against the South African variant, but still neutralizes the British variant and the original SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus strain.

The finding was published in the journal Cell Host and Microbe, from the Cell Publishing Group. “Our findings demonstrate that future variants may require a modified vaccine as the virus mutates to increase its infectivity,” says lead researcher Dr. Ran Taube.

The scientists evaluated vaccine efficacy against the original coronavirus strain, which was detected in January 2020, the British and South African variants, as well as strains harboring combined changes in the Spike protein of the virus.

Taube and his team also evaluated the levels of neutralizing antibodies after administration of one and two doses of the vaccine. They found that vaccination provided optimal protection compared to the levels observed in recovered patients.

The researchers are continuing to analyze other circulating variants as they emerge that could weaken the efficacy of the vaccines. In Israel, the vaccination plan is advanced, and there are plans to produce their own vaccine.

Global spread of the variant

The South African variant has not yet been detected in Argentina, according to the Proyecto País, which reports to the Argentine Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, nor by the Anlis/Malbrán Institute, which reports to the National Ministry of Health. On the other hand, the first case of reinfection of coronavirus with the South African variant was already reported in Brazil in January.

Worldwide, 3,567 cases of the South African variant have already been reported in 62 countries.

Regarding the Covid-19 vaccine developed by Oxford and AstraZeneca and the South African variant, a double-blind, randomized, multicenter, placebo-controlled trial had been done. The trial was done in South Africa and the investigators demonstrated that this vaccine has no efficacy against the South African variant in the prevention of mild to moderate coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), and shows reduced neutralizing properties of the developed antibodies. The results were published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The South African is now one of three variants of global public health concern, along with those from Manaus and England, according to the World Health Organization.

“Given the increase of Covid-19 cases that are occurring in Argentina and the presence of new variants in the world, care must be reinforced. In autumn and winter, people gather more indoors and susceptibility increases. For the transmission of the virus to be curbed, it is necessary to vaccinate 80%, and we are far from that. We must redouble our efforts to vaccinate the most at-risk population, although it is true that there are delays due to the unequal distribution in the world,” said Alejandra Capozzo, Conicet virology researcher at the National Institute of Agricultural Technology.

“The more people are infected, the more the virus varies and generates more variants,” warned Dr. Capozzo. “Therefore, it is important that people avoid getting infected, including those who are not at-risk populations. Even with vaccines, we must continue to be careful because they may not provide total protection. We are still in a pandemic and it is necessary to use masks properly, ventilate permanently, wash hands frequently, do not share mates or other drinks, and keep a distance of two meters from other people at work, stores, schools.”

Regarding the study carried out in Israel, Dr. Capozzo said: “It was done by analyzing the serum of people who received the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine. It suggests that the efficacy of the vaccine in producing neutralizing antibodies against the African variant could be reduced. I believe that more work is needed to evaluate vaccines and variants.”

Source: Infobae