A coronavirus vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech appears to be effective against a key mutation in the more infectious variants of the virus discovered in the U.K. and South Africa, according to a study conducted by the U.S. pharmaceutical giant.
It comes as countries scramble to contain the variants that are significantly more transmissible, with public health experts anxious about the potential impact on inoculation efforts.
The research, published Thursday on preprint server bioRxiv and not yet peer-reviewed, suggested the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine worked to neutralize the so-called N501Y mutation.
The N501Y mutation has been reported in the more infectious variants. It is altering an amino acid within six key residues in the receptor-binding domain — a key part of the spike protein that the virus uses to gain entry into cells within the body.
🏥 A new study shows Pfizer-BioNTech's Covid vaccine appears to neutralize a key mutation of two highly contagious variants found in the U.K. & South Africa.
🗣️ “These findings are good news."
👇 Here's the full story:https://t.co/qvANvM2Mk0
— Sam Meredith (@smeredith19) January 8, 2021