The efficacy of vaccines against the new strains of Covid, under the magnifying glass

The new strain of the coronavirus that was talked about a couple of weeks ago in the United Kingdom and now the variant of Covid confirmed in Italy. Both feed the uncertainty about the true protective effect of vaccines. Will they also be effective against these mutations? The Minister of Health, Salvador Illa, assured in an interview with RAC1 radio that “the vaccine is also effective with the new strain detected in the United Kingdom” and the official website created To resolve doubts of this type, he has recently included a more extensive answer on the matter.

According to textual words, the variant of Covid-19 “has arisen by point mutations in the genome of the virus, arisen at random in its multiplication within human cells. These mutations do not affect the whole of the S protein, so it is It is unlikely that the vaccine will not be effective The vaccine stimulates the immune system to deal with different target points of the virus S protein, so it can prevent its binding to receptors despite certain mutations“.

Along the same lines, the experts show their confidence: “There is no evidence that the vaccines are not active against the new strains. It has not been shown that these mutations will not be profitable from the use of the vaccine, so there is no excuse not to get vaccinated“, argues Julin Olalla, spokesperson for the Spanish Society of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology (Seimc).

However, this issue is being scrutinized and both Pfizer and Moderna are testing their vaccines against new variants of the coronavirus to see if they work, as reflected in press releases. In fact, Pfizer’s collaborating partner BioNTech has announced that it would be able to produce a modification of its vaccine to accommodate this virus mutation within six weeks.

In any case, both companies consider ‘very likely’ that the vaccines they have already produced will also protect against the newly described variants. It will be confirmed through blood samples from people immunized with their vaccine, in order to see if they may be able to neutralize the new strains.

The truth is that mutation is a normal process for all viruses. As the Seimc expert explains, “the virus mutates because it wants to have the highest biological efficiency the better and this is not measured by the people it kills but by the number of individuals it infects. The virus tends to generate mutations to increase its chances of transmission and continue in the middle multiplying “. In this case, indeed, the British strain is 70% more contagious. It “generates concern”, but not because of its virulence, which is less, but because of its greater transmission capacity. The greater number of affected will be worse for the hospitals and put more stress on the health system. Keep in mind, Olalla points out, that “the third wave is not going to be like the second, which starts from a very low incidence rate, but will come on a different scenario, in which the health system is not collapsed but is at full capacity “.