Mainz (dpa) – According to a laboratory study, the corona vaccine from Biontech and Pfizer is also effective against the variants of Sars-CoV-2 that have appeared for the first time in Great Britain and South Africa. The data from the study were published in the journal “Nature Medicine”, both companies announced on Monday. It has been shown in the laboratory that the blood of 20 people vaccinated with the vaccine neutralized the key mutations of the coronavirus variants from Great Britain and South Africa, meaning that there were sufficient neutralizing antibodies in the blood.
At the end of January, the data from the study by Pfizer and the University of Texas first became known. At the time, Biontech and Pfizer had emphasized that the results did not indicate the need for a new vaccine against the emerging variants. In the meantime, external experts have also examined the results, so that it has now been published in the journal “Nature Medicine”. There it says, among other things, that clinical data are now needed to learn even more about the effect of the vaccine against virus variants. The ongoing development of Sars-CoV-2 makes continuous monitoring of the variations and possible consequences for the effectiveness of vaccines necessary.
The British and South African variants of the corona virus are considered more contagious, and they have also appeared in Germany. In view of this, some experts are skeptical as to whether relaxation of the corona restrictions makes sense, even if the number of infections in this country is falling.
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