A new Israeli study found that the South African variant of Wuhan pneumonia (novel coronavirus disease, COVID-19) can break through the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine to some extent, although the study has not been reviewed by the academic community and the samples used are quite small, and it is impossible to deduce how effective the vaccine is overall in the face of the variant, only to say that there is such a phenomenon.
According to Reuters, the researchers investigated nearly 400 patients who were still infected with Wulong 14 days after receiving one or two doses of Pfizer vaccine, and compared them with the same number of unvaccinated and confirmed patients, and found that among patients who had received two doses of Pfizer vaccine, the chance of being infected with the South African variant was 8 times higher than that of unvaccinated patients, 5.4% and 0.7% respectively.
Adi Stern, an expert at Tel Aviv University, pointed out that compared to patients who did not receive the vaccine, those who received two doses of the vaccine showed a higher rate of infection with the South African variant, which means that the South African variant was able to break through the protection of the Pfizer vaccine to some extent. The team also revealed that the Pfizer vaccine is clearly less protective of the South African variant than the British variant.
Of course, the researchers emphasized that the study was conducted on a small sample of patients with the South African variant, and that the subjects were all patients with confirmed martial lung, so no inferences can be made about the overall infection rate of the variant or the overall effectiveness of the vaccine.
Some past studies have shown that the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine provides a strong defense against the South African variant, although less than against other variants. Stern said that while the results of this study may be cause for concern, the South African variant does not have a high prevalence and is not widely spread in the population.
Reuters has not yet obtained a response from Pfizer and BioNTech on the matter, as it is not business hours.
Recent Comments