Pfizer-BioNTech say COVID-19 vaccine works against UK, S. Africa variants

PARIS — Pfizer and BioNTech, makers of a COVID-19 vaccine, said on Thursday that their product is effective against coronavirus variants that have emerged in Britain and South Africa.

In a statement, the two companies said the "small differences" detected in tests comparing the original virus and the recent versions "are unlikely to lead to a significant reduction in the effectiveness of the vaccine".

 RELATED STORIES: 

• UK detects 77 cases of South African COVID variant, 9 of Brazilian
• Duterte: Gov’t response vs new COVID strain unchanged, but lockdown looms if ‘things get worse’
• New lockdowns ‘not sustainable,’ if new COVID strain found in PH, say experts

While the findings indicated no need for a new vaccine to tackle the new strains, Pfizer and BioNTech said they would respond if there was evidence that the variants could defeat their current vaccine.

RELATED VIDEO: 

They would continue to monitor their vaccine's "real-world effectiveness", including against new strains, they said.

"Pfizer and BioNTech believe that the flexibility of BioNTech’s proprietary mRNA vaccine platform is well suited to develop new vaccine variants if required," they said.

Daily global deaths from Covid-19 topped 18,000 for the first time Wednesday, with vaccines seen as the only real chance of returning to some form of normality.

• Mask, shield enough but DOH to study double-mask option vs new COVID-19 variant
• The UK coronavirus variant: what we know

so/jh/ach 

© Agence France-Presse