Covid-19 roundup: Pfizer, BioNTech study suggest vaccine works against variants; Researchers say Sinovac's vaccine is 78% effective
Amid heightened concerns about new, largely unknown variants of SARS-CoV-2 that appear to spread more rapidly, Pfizer and BioNTech say they have preliminary evidence that their Covid-19 vaccine is still effective against coronaviruses with one key mutation.
Pfizer partnered with the University of Texas Medical Branch on an in vitro study, in which the academic scientists generated a virus with the N501Y mutation, which they say is shared by the SARS-CoV-2 variants reported in the UK and South Africa. This particular mutation is located in the receptor binding site of the spike protein — the protein that the BNT162b2 vaccine encodes in an mRNA molecule.
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