Pfizer vaccine ‘neutralises’ Brazil Covid variant, study finds
The Pfizer/Biontech coronavirus vaccine is able to combat a new variant of Covid-19 first identified in Brazil, according to a new study.
Scientists tested blood samples from patients who had received the Pfizer jab and found it was effective in neutralising a laboratory-made version of the virus similar to the Brazil variant.
The research, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, will likely allay fears about the new P1 variant of coronavirus, which is thought to be more transmissible than other Covid strains.
Preliminary studies of the new strain in Brazil showed that it may be between 1.4 to 2.2 times more transmissible than previous versions of coronavirus circulating in Manaus.
It is also able to evade between 25 per cent and 61 per cent of protective immunity from previous infection, according researchers at Imperial College London and the University of Sao Paulo.
Six cases of the Brazil mutation have been identified in the UK so far, all of which were related to people travelling to Britain from Brazil.
A nationwide search for the “missing” sixth case of the variant concluded last Friday after extra surge testing identified the mystery individual in the London borough of Croydon.
Other studies showed that the Pfizer/Biontech jab worked against other variants of the coronavirus first discovered in the UK and South Africa.
However, it is thought the South Africa variant may reduce the protective antibodies stimulated by the vaccine by two-thirds.
Pfizer has said it is developing a new vaccine especially designed to tackle emerging Covid variants.