• Latest
  • Trending
  • All
  • News
  • Business
  • Lifestyle
Drugmakers Expect Tests To Confirm Vaccines Effective Against New Coronavirus Variant

Drugmakers Expect Tests To Confirm Vaccines Effective Against New Coronavirus Variant

December 22, 2020
The Right Doubted Amy Coney Barrett. Then She Suddenly Delivered Trump Admin’s Biggest Legal Victory

The Right Doubted Amy Coney Barrett. Then She Suddenly Delivered Trump Admin’s Biggest Legal Victory

July 7, 2025
New Navy Aircraft Carriers Face Delays As Shipbuilding Woes Persist

New Navy Aircraft Carriers Face Delays As Shipbuilding Woes Persist

July 7, 2025
TRENT ENGLAND And JASON SNEAD: Time To Say Goodbye To Ranked Choice Voting

TRENT ENGLAND And JASON SNEAD: Time To Say Goodbye To Ranked Choice Voting

July 7, 2025
DOJ ‘Thoroughly’ Investigating Hamas Apologist Group Favored By Democrats

DOJ ‘Thoroughly’ Investigating Hamas Apologist Group Favored By Democrats

July 7, 2025
Judge Blocks Defunding Of Planned Parenthood In ‘Beautiful’ Law

Judge Blocks Defunding Of Planned Parenthood In ‘Beautiful’ Law

July 7, 2025
White House to Families Impacted by Texas Floods: ‘Trump Loves You, We Are Praying for You’

White House to Families Impacted by Texas Floods: ‘Trump Loves You, We Are Praying for You’

July 7, 2025
Russian Minister Turns Up Dead By Apparent Suicide Hours After Being Fired By Putin

Russian Minister Turns Up Dead By Apparent Suicide Hours After Being Fired By Putin

July 7, 2025
California Ready To Rumble With Trump To Keep Men In Women’s Sports

California Ready To Rumble With Trump To Keep Men In Women’s Sports

July 7, 2025
Fox News Host Appears To Choke Up As Mother Describes Search For Daughter In Texas Floods

Fox News Host Appears To Choke Up As Mother Describes Search For Daughter In Texas Floods

July 7, 2025
Planned Parenthood Sues Trump Admin To Keep Taxpayer Cash Flowing

Planned Parenthood Sues Trump Admin To Keep Taxpayer Cash Flowing

July 7, 2025
Leavitt Looks Baffled After Reporter Asks Why Texas Flood Alerts Were Sent ‘While People Were Likely Sleeping’

Leavitt Looks Baffled After Reporter Asks Why Texas Flood Alerts Were Sent ‘While People Were Likely Sleeping’

July 7, 2025
‘They Need To Leave Right Now!’: LA’s Dem Mayor Arrives On Scene To Disrupt ICE Raid

‘They Need To Leave Right Now!’: LA’s Dem Mayor Arrives On Scene To Disrupt ICE Raid

July 7, 2025
  • Donald Trump
  • State of the Union
  • Elon Musk
  • Tariffs
  • Congress
  • Faith
  • Immigration
Monday, July 7, 2025
  • Login
IJR
  • Politics
  • US News
  • Commentary
  • World News
  • Faith
  • Latest Polls
No Result
View All Result
IJR
No Result
View All Result
Home News

Drugmakers Expect Tests To Confirm Vaccines Effective Against New Coronavirus Variant

by Reuters
December 22, 2020 at 6:11 pm
in News
245 7
0
Drugmakers Expect Tests To Confirm Vaccines Effective Against New Coronavirus Variant

FILE PHOTO: Woman holds a vial labelled "COVID-19 Coronavirus Vaccine" over dry ice in this illustration taken, December 5, 2020. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

491
SHARES
1.4k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

At least four drugmakers expect their COVID-19 vaccines will be effective against the new fast-spreading variant of the virus that is raging in Britain and are performing tests that should provide confirmation in a few weeks.

Ugur Sahin, chief executive of Germany’s BioNTech, which with partner Pfizer Inc, took less than a year to get a vaccine approved, said on Tuesday he expects its messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine to still work well.

Moderna Inc, Germany’s CureVac and British drugmaker AstraZeneca Plc also believe their shots will work against the new threat that has sown chaos in Britain, prompting a wave of travel bans that are disrupting trade with Europe and threatening to further isolate the island country.

“Scientifically it is highly likely that the immune response by this vaccine can also deal with this virus variant,” he said on a call with reporters.

Sahin said it will take another two weeks or so of study and data collection to get a definitive answer.

“The vaccine contains more than 1,270 amino acids, and only nine of them are changed (in the mutated virus). That means that 99% of the protein is still the same.”

The mutation known as the B.1.1.7 lineage may be up to 70% more infectious and more of a concern for children.

In the event that the variant presents vaccine developers with an unexpected challenge, an advantage of mRNA is that scientists can quickly re-engineer genetic material in the shot to match that of the mutated protein, whereas modifying traditional vaccines would require extra steps.

“In principle, the beauty of the mRNA technology is we can directly start to engineer a vaccine which completely mimics this new mutation,” Sahin said.

“We could be able to provide a new vaccine technically within six weeks. Of course, this is not only a technical question. We have to deal with how regulators… would see that.”

Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna and CureVac all developed mRNA vaccines, while AstraZeneca has a more traditional vaccine that uses an adenovirus found in chimpanzees to deliver genetic material from the coronavirus to spur an immune response.

Germany’s CureVac started late-stage clinical trials on its vaccine candidate last week and is constantly reviewing variants, which the company said are common as viruses spread.

Britain’s chief scientific adviser Patrick Vallance said on Saturday vaccines appeared to be adequate in generating an immune response to the variant of the coronavirus.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday it will convene a meeting of members to discuss strategies to counter the mutation.

(Reporting by John Miller in Zurich, Rama Venkat and Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru and Patricia Weiss in Frankfurt; Editing by Kirsten Donovan and Lisa Shumaker)

Tags: Coronavirus Outbreak
Share196Tweet123
Reuters

Reuters

Reuters is an international news organization.

Advertisements

Top Stories June 10th
Top Stories June 7th
Top Stories June 6th
Top Stories June 3rd
Top Stories May 30th
Top Stories May 29th
Top Stories May 24th
Top Stories May 23rd
Top Stories May 21st
Top Stories May 17th

Join Over 6M Subscribers

We’re organizing an online community to elevate trusted voices on all sides so that you can be fully informed.





IJR

    Copyright © 2024 IJR

Trusted Voices On All Sides

  • About Us
  • GDPR Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Service
  • Editorial Standards & Corrections Policy
  • Subscribe to IJR

Follow Us

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Politics
  • US News
  • Commentary
  • World News
  • Faith
  • Latest Polls

    Copyright © 2024 IJR

Top Stories June 10th Top Stories June 7th Top Stories June 6th Top Stories June 3rd Top Stories May 30th Top Stories May 29th Top Stories May 24th Top Stories May 23rd Top Stories May 21st Top Stories May 17th