Will COVID-19 Vaccines Still Work Against The Variant From India?

[perugu_vada]

Like other variants of concern, B.1.617 has more than a dozen mutations. But two mutations in particular have been most concerning, said Ravindra Gupta, a microbiologist at the University of Cambridge. These mutations are found on an important part of the virus — where the immune system attacks.
 

 

The double mutant behaved a lot like the single mutant. It wasn't double trouble.

"There didn't seem to be the addition of one mutant on top of the other," Gupta said. "And that was really quite important because that assumption has caused panic."

At the same time, researchers at Emory University performed similar studies with antibodies taken from 15 people who have been vaccinated with either the Pfizer or Moderna shots. In these studies, the antibodies could still neutralize the B.1.617 variant, but the potency of the antibodies dropped by about sevenfold on average, the authors reported.

Together the data suggests the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines will still work well against B.1.617, just as they do for the variant from South Africa, known as B.1.351.

[Pitta]