According to reports, the two companies (Pfizer and Moderna) that recently rolled out Covid-19 vaccines in the US are testing to see if the vaccine will be effective against the new strain spread across the UK and other countries.
Moderna said in a statement, “Based on the data to date, we expect that the Moderna vaccine-induced immunity would be protective against the variants recently described in the UK.” It added, “We will be performing additional tests in the coming weeks to confirm this expectation.”
According to CNN, Pfizer said it’s “generating data” on how well blood samples from people immunized with its shot “may be able to neutralize the new strain from the UK.”
Both companies claim that their vaccines have worked against other variations of the coronavirus.
Some researchers studying the genome of the UK strain told CNN they have concerns that this variant’s mutations could reduce the effectiveness of the vaccines.
Trevor Bedford, an associate professor in the vaccine and infectious disease division of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, told the outlet, “You could imagine some modest hit in vaccine efficacy, which wouldn’t be good, but I don’t think it would break the vaccine.”
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