New York City officials have warned that B.1.526, the coronavirus variant first identified in New York, could be more contagious than earlier versions of the coronavirus and may be able to eschew the body's immune response. Fortunately, two recent studies suggest the COVID-19 vaccines produced by Pfizer and Moderna prevent serious illness and death caused by the variant.
Researchers conducted laboratory experiments in which vaccinated people's blood samples were tested against B.1.526.
The studies, posted March 24 and April 22, said the antibodies brought about by Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines are only slightly less effective at fighting the variant than original forms of the coronavirus. The studies have not been peer-reviewed yet.
"The take-home message is that the vaccines are going to work against the New York variant and the South African variant and the U.K. variant," Nathan Landau, PhD, a virologist at New York University's medical school and lead author for one of the studies, told The New York Times.
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