South African Variant More Resistant to Vaccine, BGU Finds
South African Variant More Resistant to Vaccine, BGU Finds
March 21, 2021
Medical Research, Research News
The Jerusalem Post — The South African variant is more resistant to the Pfizer vaccine than other coronavirus strains, according to new research conducted by BGU scientists. In addition, its infectivity appears to be similar to the British variant and therefore higher than that of the original strain of the disease.
We saw a seven-fold decrease in the Pfizer vaccine’s ability to inhibit infection by the South African variant of the virus,” said Dr. Ran Taube of BGU’s Shraga Segal Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Genetics in the Faculty of Health Sciences.
Dr. Ran Taub
The study did not take into consideration clinical data, but rather, it analyzed blood taken from inoculated patients, he told The Jerusalem Post.
“We incubated blood taken from vaccinated individuals, and we measured the ability of the antibodies to inhibit infection,” Taube said. “The vaccine still worked against the South African [variant], but in a less-efficient way.”
Read more in The Jerusalem Post >>
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