Pfizer’s vaccine remains 88% effective against the delta variant, also known as B.1.617 or Indian variant, according to a new US study. The same team from the University of Texas had already shown that it is also effective against other variants.
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“As with the other variants, the vaccine produces antibodies with a significantly poorer neutralization capacity, but in practice in real life the efficacy is almost identical,” explains Pei-Yong Shi, lead author of the study published on Monday in review Nature. “There are therefore other immune response mechanisms against SARS-CoV-2”, the coronavirus responsible for COVID-19.
The study of Nature cites in particular a Montreal study on these other immune response mechanisms. The author of this Montreal study, Andrés Finzi of the University of Montreal, considers this Texas study “very encouraging”. “The vaccines target a large region of SARS-CoV-2, which is probably why the immune response is still good with variants,” says Finzi.
The results are all the more interesting since the blood samples of vaccinated patients were taken two and four weeks after the second dose, and the two doses were separated by only three weeks, notes Finzi. “It might have been different if the interval between the two doses had been longer. We made three weeks for the clinical trials to be faster, but often with vaccines we take a longer interval between the two doses, for example eight or 12 weeks. This allows the antibodies to mature, only the strongest remain in the patient’s body, which makes the boost more effective. I’m just answering this question in the lab, measuring immune responses when the two doses are separated by three, 12 or 16 weeks. “[dosederappelNDLR)estplusefficaceJesuisjustemententrainderépondreàcettequestionenlaboratoireenmesurantlesréponsesimmunitairesquandlesdeuxdosessontséparéespartrois12ou16 semaines »
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