The vaccines Pfizer and Moderna work against variants considered “worrying” and currently more widespread in Europe (WHO diffusion in Italy): English, Brazilian and South African. This is proven by various studies conducted by researchers and their respective pharmaceutical companies.
High efficacy
The first concerns the Pfizer vaccine: in a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine just released and carried out in Qatar, we see that as of March 31, 2021, on more than 265,000 people who had received both doses, the effectiveness was 89.5% against the English variant B.1.1.7 and the 75% against the South African variant B.1.351. Even more remarkable was the efficacy against serious, critical or fatal diseases: 97.4% for all forms of coronavirus and 100% against both variants. Sequencing conducted between February 23 and March 18 in the country suggested that about half of the coronavirus infections during that period were caused by B.1.351 and 44.5% by B.1.1.7.
Protection in Israel
The second new study, published in The Lancet, was conducted by researchers from the Israeli Ministry of Health and Pfizer. It is based on more than 230,000 coronavirus infections that occurred in Israel between January 24 and April 3. During that time, B.1.1.7 accounted for nearly 95% of all coronavirus cases in the country. The vaccine proved effective for over 95% in protecting against coronavirus infection, hospitalization and death. It also worked well in older adults with efficacy over 94% (on seniors over 85) in protecting against infection, hospitalization and death.
Vaccines in the real world have been shown to perform better than in clinical trials and this is very encouraging. The data on the variants are also so, especially towards the most feared, the South African, which in some cases seemed to have “surpassed” vaccines or previous infections.
Good response with the recall
On the front of the second mRNA vaccine, that of Moderna, other confirmations: the pharmaceutical company immediately undertook to think about a call designed specifically against variants. In a statement from the same company (therefore these are not controlled and verified studies, as in the case of the previous two cited, ed) to the press, we talk about the good efficacy in Phase 2 studies of the recall on the Brazilian (P.1) and South African variants. The experiments were of two types: a boost with the same vaccine, which generated good antibodies against variant B.1.351, and a boost with a vaccine formulated against the variants that generated even better antibodies. It should also be noted that the company is working on a “multivalent booster” candidate that combines the booster of the “classic” vaccine (the one currently in use) with the booster studied against the variants.
RNA vaccines are easily updated
What remains to be tested is how many months does the protection last mRNA vaccines to decide when to do the boosters: for now we are sure of 6 months, but we expect data on the possibility that it will last even a year. In any case, the reminders will be prompt and effective. With the new messenger RNA technology, modifying a vaccine takes very little time, even if there are new variants that are imposed (like the Indian one), then it comes to conducting the clinical studies which, however, in the case of modifications of the same vaccine, take less time, also for the approval process of the regulatory authorities.
May 6, 2021 (change May 6, 2021 | 11:28)
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