According to a recent study conducted by U.S. scientists, two COVID-19 vaccines, Pfizer & BNT and Moderna, are still highly effective against the two mutated viruses that first appeared in India. However, such laboratory studies are not predictive of effectiveness in real-world situations and must be validated through additional studies.
The laboratory study, conducted by the NYU Grossman School of Medicine and NYU Langone Medical Center, has not yet been published in a peer-reviewed journal and is therefore considered preliminary.
Nathaniel “Ned” Landau, senior author of the study, told AFP, “We found that the vaccine antibodies were slightly weaker in the face of the mutated virus, but not that much weaker, so we think the vaccine is still very protective.”
The researchers first drew blood from patients who had received one of the two vaccines, and then exposed those samples in a laboratory to artificially created dummy viruses containing the echinocandin protein of the mutant viruses, specifically the B.1.617 or B.1.618 variants that first appeared in India.
Finally, the samples mixed with the variant viruses were then exposed to cells cultured in the laboratory to see how many cells would be infected as a result. The pseudovirus particles contain the enzyme “fluorophore”, which is used by fireflies to emit light. By adding fluorophore? The pseudovirus was added to the pseudovirus to identify how many cells were infected.
Overall, the results showed that neutralizing antibodies, the Y-type proteins produced by the immune system to prevent pathogens from invading cells, were reduced nearly fourfold in B.1.617 and about threefold in B.1.618.
Randall said, “In other words, there are some antibodies that are not effective against these variants of the virus, but there are still many that are effective.”
However, Randall noted that since overall antibody levels are still higher than those who recovered from the original virus, “since there are enough effective antibodies, we think these vaccines still have a high level of protection.”
Recent Comments