COVID-19: Pfizer-BioNTech Says Vaccine Effective Against UK, S/Africa Virus Strains

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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”.

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

Read also: Deadly COVID-19 Strain Found In UK Now In Nigeria – FG

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

“Pfizer-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.