- Researchers tested the Moderna vaccine candidate against the British mutation (B.1.1.7) and found that the neutralizing antibodies still work against the new strain.
- The tests also include neutralizing antibody testing from people with acute COVID-19 infections and COVID-19 survivors.
- The researchers found that infected people contain antibodies that can neutralize the British mutation, which should reduce the risk of reinfection.
COVID-19 vaccination campaigns started less than two months ago and more than 134 million doses have already been administered, according to Bloomberg’s vaccine tracker. That’s more doses than the number of confirmed global COVID-19 infections to date, but not enough to change the course of the pandemic. The world is still a long way from immunity to herds, which could end the pandemic, with the same tracker estimating it would take about 6.6 years to vaccinate 75% of the world’s population at the current rate of nearly 4, 75 million doses per day. However, that’s a very flawed estimate, as it doesn’t take into account upcoming production increases and additional vaccines that will be approved in the coming months and years.
That said, there is a new problem that concerns researchers: mutations. At least one of the recently discovered coronavirus mutants could decrease the efficacy of current vaccine candidates, and this could lead to additional delays in achieving herd immunity. But the vaccines still work against some known mutations, including the British variant which is dominant in Britain and making its way into the US and other regions. The good news is that new research indicates that the Moderna vaccine is effective against the British strain and a mutation seen in several variants.
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Researchers from Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, the University of Texas Medical Branch and the COVID-19 Neutralization Study Group tested the vaccine against the British variant of the virus and published their results online in a study that did not assess (via News Medical).
The team looked at three categories of neutralizing antibodies to measure the effectiveness of the Moderna drug against the B.1.1.7 virus. The B.1.1.7 strain of SARS-CoV-2 is a collection of genetic changes, not just a single mutation. Some of them occurred at the spike protein level, which explains why scientists are retesting the efficacy of their vaccines. The researchers collected plasma from 20 patients with acute infections, 20 patients who recovered from COVID-19, and 14 healthy subjects who had been vaccinated. All of these blood samples contain different levels of neutralizing antibodies that are supposed to bind to the new coronavirus spike protein.
The 20 people with an acute infection developed COVID-19 symptoms between 8 and 24 days before samples were collected. The recovered patients had COVID-19 between 30 and 90 days before the test. The immunized patients received both Moderna shots, given 28 days apart, and the sera samples were collected 14 days after the second shot.
The scientists tested all of these samples against various strains of coronavirus, including an early version of the virus obtained in Washington (WA1), a D614G variant isolated in Georgia in March 2020 (EHC-083E) and a B.1.1.7 variant from California. . Finally, the researchers also tested the samples against a recombinant SARS-CoV-2 virus with a single point mutation on the spike protein at position 501 (N501Y).
The authors found that all types of neutralizing antibodies, whether developed in response to direct infection or after vaccination, worked just as well. The team has not observed a decrease in the levels of neutralizing antibodies against any of the variants, an indication that the Moderna drug is working. “These results demonstrate that neutralizing antibody titers after native infection or vaccination are effective against the British variant (B.1.1.7) and viral strains containing single-point mutations at positions 501 and 614 within the spike protein,” said the team.
These findings indicate that the vaccine may protect against severe COVID-19 and death following infection with B.1.1.7 and other strains containing the 501 mutation. The South African mutation also contains the N501Y change. Another study also found that the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine, an mRNA drug like Moderna’s candidate, works against the B.1.1.7 and N501Y mutations.
Also important is the implication that people who survived infection by the novel coronavirus sometime before the British mutation was discovered should be protected from the British strain.
However, the South African mutation also contains several genetic changes. The new study did not test the Moderna vaccine against the full B.1.351 strain from South Africa. Existing experiments showed that survivors of COVID-19 could be reinfected with B.1.351. South African authorities have halted the introduction of the Oxford vaccine in the region after disappointing results in recent tests. Separately, Moderna announced a few days ago that it is working on a booster shot for its vaccine that could aid in its effectiveness against newer mutations, including South African mutations.
In comparison, researchers in the UK found that B.1.1.7 strains developed a more resistant mutation to vaccines, which has also been seen in the South African and Brazilian strains. The new study did not test the Moderna drug against these newer B.1.1.7 variations.
The full study is available at this link.
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Chris Smith started writing about gadgets as a hobby and before he knew it, he shared his thoughts on tech matters with readers around the world. When not writing about gadgets, he sadly fails to stay away from them, although he desperately tries. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing.