BioNTech's chief executive Ugur Sahin told reporters Tuesday it is "highly likely" his company's COVID-19 vaccine, which was developed alongside Pfizer and has been rolled out in several countries including the United States, will hold up against the new coronavirus variant that was first identified in the United Kingdom.
Scientists have many questions about the variant, which appears to be more transmissible, including how it affects vaccine efficacy. Per Reuters, Sahin said he'll need another two weeks of study and data collection to determine whether the Pfizer-BioNTech shot will remain effective, but he is confident the mutations won't be enough to evade the immune response it induces. "The vaccine contains more than 1,270, and only nine of them are changed (in the mutant virus)," Sahin said. "That means 99 percent of the protein is still the same."
Even if an adjustment is required, the mRNA technology used in both the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines would theoretically allow the companies to "engineer a vaccine which completely mimics the new mutation," Sahin said. In that hypothetical scenario it could take just six weeks to produce a new version of the vaccine, though Sahin noted regulators would have to re-evaluate things at that point. Read more at Reuters.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Critics’ choice: Watering holes for gourmandsFeature An endless selection of Mexican spirits, a Dublin-inspired bar, and an upscale Baltimore pub
-
Argentinian beef is at the center of American farmers’ woesThe Explainer ‘It feels like a slap in the face to rural America,’ said one farmer
-
‘Businesses that lose money and are uncompetitive won’t survive’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
FDA OKs generic abortion pill, riling the rightSpeed Read The drug in question is a generic version of mifepristone, used to carry out two-thirds of US abortions
-
RFK Jr. vaccine panel advises restricting MMRV shotSpeed Read The committee voted to restrict access to a childhood vaccine against chickenpox
-
Texas declares end to measles outbreakSpeed Read The vaccine-preventable disease is still spreading in neighboring states, Mexico and Canada
-
RFK Jr. shuts down mRNA vaccine funding at agencySpeed Read The decision canceled or modified 22 projects, primarily for work on vaccines and therapeutics for respiratory viruses
-
Measles cases surge to 33-year highSpeed Read The infection was declared eliminated from the US in 2000 but has seen a resurgence amid vaccine hesitancy
-
Kennedy's vaccine panel signals skepticism, changeSpeed Read RFK Jr.'s new vaccine advisory board intends to make changes to the decades-old US immunization system
-
Kennedy ousts entire CDC vaccine advisory panelspeed read Health Secretary RFK Jr. is a longtime anti-vaccine activist who has criticized the panel of experts
-
RFK Jr. scraps Covid shots for pregnant women, kidsSpeed Read The Health Secretary announced a policy change without informing CDC officials
