COVID-19 vaccine antibodies remain highly active against the newly emerged California and New York variants of SARS-CoV-2, according to the latest research from a collaborative team from The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston and Pfizer/BioNTech. The results provide new laboratory evidence to support mass immunization with the current, highly safe, and effective vaccines to end the COVID-19 pandemic.
As the COVID-19 pandemic persists, SARS-CoV-2 continues to evolve in patients through accumulated mutations. Each mutation brings with it the possibility that it could reduce the efficacy of the approved vaccines and therapies or enhance the transmission and severity of COVID-19.
“The current study represents our continuous effort to investigate if mutations from the newly emerged variants may compromise the efficacy of authorized vaccines,” said Pei-Yong Shi, a professor in the Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology at UTMB and senior author of the study. “To address this question, we engineered three SARS-CoV-2 viruses representing the recently emerged California, New York, and UK variants (containing an antibody-resistant mutation E484K). Using Pfizer vaccine-immunized human samples, we found the vaccine antibodies remain highly active against these variants, although the California variant is slightly less susceptible to the antibody inhibition.”
The findings bolster the importance of the ongoing vaccination process, the researchers said.
“We should keep the momentum to vaccinate as many people and as soon as possible,” said Xuping Xie, assistant professor at UTMB and co-senior author of the study. “COVID-19 transmission can now be prevented through vaccination and public health measurement. Prolonged transmission of SARS-CoV-2 will continue to develop mutations that may erode the efficacy of approved vaccines, which could compromise our ability to end the pandemic.”
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“Repeated testing continues to show the outstanding safety and efficacy of the authorized vaccine,” said Shi. “The science shows that vaccines work and that the best way to be protected, and protect the ones you love, is to get vaccinated
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