The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine retains much of its effectiveness against the major Covid-19 virus mutations seen in the UK and South Africa, the two companies announced today in a statement.
The 'in vitro' tests “did not demonstrate the need for a new vaccine to deal with the emerging variants”, the two companies say.
The Pfizer.BioNTech document adds that companies "will continue to monitor emerging variants while being ready to react" if one of the mutations proves resistant to the vaccine.
On Tuesday, the director of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) had already said that Pfizer-BioNtech and Moderna's Covid-19 vaccines are effective for the British variant, but admitted that the South African mutation is “more complicated”.
“With regard to the two vaccines that have already been authorized, we asked companies to check the effect of the new variants on their performance and […], according to preliminary studies, these vaccines will continue to be effective at least in relation to the British variant” , declared the official.
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