Pfizer and partner German biotech BioNTech said today that their Wuhan pneumonia (novel coronavirus disease, COVID-19) vaccine is effective against a variant of the virus that has emerged in Britain and South Africa.
The companies said in a statement that “minor differences” were found in experiments comparing the original virus with the latest variant, but “are unlikely to result in a significant reduction in vaccine efficacy,” AFP reported.
While the findings suggest that a new vaccine is not needed to deal with the variants, Pfizer and BioNTech said they will respond if there is evidence that the viruses can beat the current vaccine.
The companies said they will continue to monitor the “real-world effectiveness” of the vaccine, including resistance to the Variant viruses.
The statement noted, “Pfizer and BioNTech believe that the flexibility of BioNTech’s proprietary mRNA vaccine platform is well suited for the development of a Variant virus vaccine, should the need arise.”
With the global single-day death toll from Wuhan pneumonia topping 18,000 for the first Time on Wednesday, the vaccine is seen as the only real chance to restore some semblance of normalcy.
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