Study finds Pfizer vaccine effective against mutations in new COVID-19 variants

A Pfizer study released Wednesday determined that the mutations in the COVID-19 variants originally found in the United Kingdom and South Africa have “small effects” on the effectiveness of the company’s vaccine developed with BioNTech.

The preliminary research, conducted by Pfizer and University of Texas Medical Branch scientists, concluded that the results showed no need for an additional vaccine for the variants.

“While these findings do not indicate the need for a new vaccine to address the emerging variants, the Companies are prepared to respond if a variant of SARS-CoV-2 demonstrates evidence of escaping immunity by the COVID-19 vaccine,” Pfizer and BioNTech said in a release.

The study said the vaccine was slightly less effective on mutations for the variant first found in South Africa compared to other mutations.

“The Companies believe the small differences in viral neutralization observed in these studies are unlikely to lead to a significant reduction in the effectiveness of the vaccine,” the companies said.