COVID-19: Pfizer-BioNTech say their vaccine effective against UK, South Africa variants

Pharmaceuticals Pfizer and BioNTech, on January 28, said that ir COVID-19 vaccine was effective against variants that have emerged in Britain and South Africa. In a joint statement, companies said that "small differences" detected in tests comparing original virus and recent versions "are unlikely to le to a significant reduction in effectiveness of vaccine". Previously, Pfizer h said that it was developing a “booster shot” to tackle new variants, however, after latest anuncement experts have dismissed its requirement.

BNT162b2,  mRNA based COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer/ BioNTech was first of its kind to be approved in world with UK granting it emergency approval on December 2. Since n, it h been granted approval in US, Israel, across European Union amongst or developed and developing countries across world.

‘Real-world effectiveness’

Despite ir latest anuncement, Pfizer/BioNTech stressed that y would continue to monitor effectiveness of ir vaccines in real-time, including against new mutations. partnership furr said that y would immediately respond if ir vaccines fail against SARS-CoV-2 mutations. "Pfizer and BioNTech believe that flexibility of BioNTech's proprietary mRNA vaccine platform is well suited to develop new vaccine variants if required," y said.

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Earlier this month, British pharmaceutical company ConserV Bioscience Limited (CBL) claimed to have created a COVID-19 vaccine that will work against all kinds of mutations. According to Daily Mail, CBL said that it h created vaccine that can allegedly work against all mutant strains, including ones recently detected in United Kingdom and South Africa. CBL has asserted that it will able to roll-out vaccine in a year or so if trials are conducted quickly. 

According to World Health Organisation, UK coronavirus strain has been detected in at least 60 countries while that of South Africa detected in over 23 nations. While se both variants have left experts concerned,  Japan reported a third, previously unkwn, virus strain. Earlier this month, South Africa reported a second mutation while Brazil became first Latin American nation to report a new strain. 

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