Pfizer said Jan. 27 that there is no need to develop additional versions of its vaccine to protect against variants of the coronavirus discovered in the U.K. and South Africa, as studies have shown that the variants have only "small effects" on the vaccine's efficacy, according to The Hill.
"While these findings do not indicate the need for a new vaccine to address the emerging variants, the companies are prepared to respond if a variant of SARS-CoV-2 demonstrates evidence of escaping immunity by the COVID-19 vaccine," Pfizer and its partner BioNTech said, according to The Hill.
Scientists from Pfizer and the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston found the vaccine was slightly less effective on the variant found in South Africa, called B.1.351, compared to other variants. The researchers didn't test the vaccine on the variants themselves but on a set of mutations found within the variants, The Hill reported. The research was published on the preprint server bioRxiv.
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