South African variant may cut Pfizer vaccine by two-thirds

[AxMan76]

Study finds fall in antibody activity – but scientists say jab should still protect against severe disease and death.

So that has to be positive news imo.

www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/world/2021/feb/18/south-african-covid-variant-may-cut-pfizer-vaccine-protection-by-two-thirds

So similar to the Oxford AstraZeneca jab then.

It will be interesting to see how the efficacy compares to the much-derided AZ trails. I have a friend who constantly puts down AZ (she and her husband have the Pfizer vaccine) so I am watching with interest.

The trashing of the AZ vaccine was all political instigated by the EU. Now looking like the Pfeizer vaccine is not that good.

I suspect the efficacy of the Oxford AstraZeneca jab will prove to be very similar to Pfizer.

From the article posted above:

“Even if the concerning variant significantly reduces effectiveness, the vaccine should still help protect against severe disease and death, he noted. Health experts have said that is the most important factor in keeping stretched healthcare systems from becoming overwhelmed.

More work is needed to understand whether the vaccine works against the South African variant, Shi said, including clinical trials and the development of correlates of protection – the benchmarks to determine what antibody levels are protective.

Pfizer and BioNTech said they were doing similar lab work to understand whether their vaccine is protective against another variant first found in Brazil.

Moderna published a correspondence in NEJM on Wednesday, with similar data previously disclosed elsewhere that showed a six-fold drop in antibody levels versus the South African variant.

Moderna also said the actual efficacy of its vaccine against the South African variant is yet to be determined. The company has previously said it believes the vaccine will work against the variant.“

@Crumpetycrump

I suspect the efficacy of the Oxford AstraZeneca jab will prove to be very similar to Pfizer.

I hope so. AZ is one heck of a lot easier to transport and store, which is hugely important and not usually mentioned.

From everything I have read it is only Pfizer run or funded research that puts it massively in front of AZ. All the smaller more independent research seems to be pointing to their not being much difference. Final results are not out yet so we will have to see.

I think the Oxford/az vaccine being not for profit is having a massive impact on the way efficacy is being reported. Shameful really

@Foilball

I think the Oxford/az vaccine being not for profit is having a massive impact on the way efficacy is being reported. Shameful really

Shocking

I’m sure they all will have similar efficacy against the variants. They are all vaccines using the original variant spike protein, none of them have adjuvants, so I guess much of a muchness in terms of whether the antibodies induced will still bind to the variants.
Different vaccines might induce different levels of antibodies but that will also vary so much from individual to individual depending on their immune system that I imagine that might have more an effect than which of the vaccines you had.

Immunity is more than antibodies as well.

There's also t cell immunity.

@Truelymadlydeeplysomeonesmum

From everything I have read it is only Pfizer run or funded research that puts it massively in front of AZ. All the smaller more independent research seems to be pointing to their not being much difference. Final results are not out yet so we will have to see.

This was Pfizer research though: In the new study, which was published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers from Pfizer, BioNTech, and the University of Texas Medical Branch examined how well blood taken from people who had received the companies’ shot fought off a virus engineered to have the key mutations found in B.1.351. They reported that there was about a two-thirds drop in neutralization power against the variant compared to other forms of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.

NEJM audio interview with Jeremy Farrar discusses emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants and the efficacy of current vaccines: www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMe2102882

CoffeeandCroissant

Sorry I should have been more clear. I am talking about Pfizer effectiveness on the previous variant. As in the first first variant or even the Kent one. As these have been observed in real life trials. On people not just in a dish.

@Truelymadlydeeplysomeonesmum

From everything I have read it is only Pfizer run or funded research that puts it massively in front of AZ. All the smaller more independent research seems to be pointing to their not being much difference. Final results are not out yet so we will have to see.

Pfizer are doing a great job of manipulating the media, helped by a lot of useful idiots on SM, including MN, who read a headline figure about efficacy and take it as gospel.

AZ are no saints either, as a big Pharma company, but they have been far more transparent than Pfizer about the Covid vaccine.

AZ are no saints either, as a big Pharma company, but they have been far more transparent than Pfizer about the Covid vaccine.

Big Pharma mention alert!