A new preliminary study – based on a small sample – has suggested that people previously infected with the COVID-19 variant identified in South Africa may have better immunity to other coronavirus mutations, experts said on Wednesday.
The results, from a not yet peer-reviewed research by the team of South African researchers who discovered the 501Y.V2 variant, raise hopes that vaccines modeled on the strain can protect against future mutations.
Only 4% of a sample of 55 patients who had 501Y.V2 failed to neutralize infections from the original coronavirus variant, according to data presented by a cohort of researchers under Network Genomic Surveillance South Africa (NGS-SA).
The variant was identified at the end of last year and became the dominant tribe in the African nation most affected by the pandemic, which gave rise to the second wave of infection and delayed vaccination start in February.
Top virologist Tulio de Oliveira told a video conference in which senior government ministers attended that “501Y.V2 can produce a high level of antibodies that can neutralize itself,” he said, adding that the immune response surpasses previous variants.
Health Minister Zweli Mkhize told the same meeting that the discovery was “good news for everyone”, as it gave a huge boost to the control of the pandemic. Coronavirus mutations – some more contagious – had put a damper on global vaccination programs after existing shoots were shown to offer less protection against them. In recent weeks, manufacturers have competed to adjust their formulas in response to the spread of newer variants.
The American biotechnology company Moderna said last week that it will begin a clinical trial in mid-March of a version of its vaccine specific to the South African variant. Leading government adviser and leading epidemiologist Salim Abdool Karim explained that the shots developed by Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna use mRNA technology to induce antibody production and that the latest developments are promising to achieve immunity.
“These results basically say that we have a good chance of success if we make a vaccine based on it,” he said.
.
