How COVID-19 Vaccines Work against Variants?

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Speaking about COVID-19 vaccines on April 23, Giorgi Pkhakadze, head of Accreditation Without Borders (Accréditation Sans Frontières), an international, non-profit organization, said during a Facebook live stream that mainly British variant of COVID-19 is currently circulating in Georgia and the available vaccines are more or less effective against this variant, while the Chinese vaccine “is a trash and does not work against the British variant.”

Pkhakadze notes that not a single vaccine works against South African, Brazilian and Indian variants. Moreover, he claims that people will need the third dose of a Pfizer vaccine within six months after getting the first dose.

Pkhakadze’s remarks were published by Georgian online media outlets Tvalsazrisi.ge and Taonews.ge.

COVID-19 vaccines, namely Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca are effective against the British variant. As for Sinopharm, according to the World Health Organization’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE), vaccine efficacy in age group 18-59 is 78.1%. Information as if Sinopharm does not work against the British variant lacks evidence due to insufficient studies and data in this regard. In addition, the information that people will need the third dose of a Pfizer vaccine within six months after getting the first dose is simply a supposition.

Studies are still underway to assess the efficacy of vaccines against various variants (South African, Indian, Brazilian); however, the available data do not make it possible to say that none of the vaccines will work against new variants.

Available vaccines are effective against British variant

The information about the efficacy of available vaccines against the British variant (B.1.1.7) is reliable. According to recent studies, Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca vaccines are effective against the British variant. According to the laboratory research published on January 19, Pfizer vaccine showed the same result against the British variant as against the Wuhan strain.

As for the AstraZeneca vaccine, it showed a 75% efficacy against the British variant that is not much lower than its efficacy against the Wuhan variant (84%).

According to the statement released by Moderna on January 25, early results of laboratory studies have shown the efficacy of the Moderna vaccine against B.1.1.7 variant.

The efficacy of Chinese Sinopharm is 78.1%, whereas sufficient studies have not been conducted to prove its efficacy against the British variant

Sinopharm is an inactivated vaccine, which works by using killed viral particles to expose the body’s immune system to the virus. According to Sinopharm, its COVID-19 vaccine showed 79% efficacy and 86% rate for the same vaccine was announced by the United Arab Emirates.

Hungary’s regulator granted emergency-use approval for the use of the Chinese COVID vaccine on January 29 and started its administering in the country.

Presently, Sinopharm is waiting for the WHO to grant its COVID-19 vaccine emergency use listing. According to the report released by WHO’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE), vaccine efficacy in multi-country phase 3 clinical trial is 78.1% among people aged 18-59. The same document reads that most adverse events were mild to moderate.

As for Sinopharm’s efficacy against the British variant, no studies have been published so far. Therefore, any claims that Sinopharm does not work against B.1.1.7 variant lack evidence at this point.

Which vaccine works against which variant?

As for the Brazilian (P.1), South African (B.1.351) and Indian variants (B.1.617) of COVID-19, the studies and data collection on the efficacy of available vaccines against these variants are still underway; still, the available data do not enable us to say that none of the available vaccines will work against the new variants.

British (B.1.17)

South African (B.1.351)

Brazilian (P.1)

Indian (B.1.617)

Pfizer

Effective

Effective (75%)

Effective

Reduced efficacy

Moderna

Effective

Moe data needed

Reduced efficacy

Moe data needed

AstraZeneca

Effective (75%)

Moe data needed

Reduced efficacy

Effective

Johnson & Johnson

Effective

Effective

Effective

More data needed


Pfizer announced on April 1 that its vaccine was 100% effective in preventing COVID-19 cases in South Africa, where the B.1.351 lineage is prevalent. Furthermore, Pfizer is testing a booster shot of its COVID vaccine in a new trial. AstraZeneca is also talking about developing booster jabs to tackle COVID-19 variants. As for Moderna, it already completed its work over experimental booster shot that targets the South African variant and launched phase 1 clinical trials.

According to the study released on May 5, a total of 385,853 persons had received at least one vaccine dose in Qatar and the effectiveness of Pfizer vaccine against any documented infection with the B.1.351 variant was 75.0%. Vaccine effectiveness against severe, critical, or fatal disease due to infection with any SARS-CoV-2 (with the B.1.1.7 and B.1.351 variants being predominant within Qatar) was very high, at 97.4%, the same study notes.

Phase 3 clinical trials conducted by Johnson & Johnson included more than 44,000 participants in the U.S., South Africa, and several Latin American countries. According to the results, the vaccine showed a 57% efficacy in South Africa, but not a single person who got vaccinated, and had illness after four weeks, ended up in the hospital. According to another study involving more than 43,000 participants, Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine showed a 64% efficacy.

Additional studies need to be conducted to determine the efficacy of Pfizer vaccine against the Brazilian variant; however, according to the available data, the vaccine also works against the Brazilian variant. According to the preliminary results, Pfizer vaccine is effective against the Brazilian variant, but to a lesser extent. According to another study, which analyzed immune blood cells of people who got Pfizer vaccines, the cells generated immune response despite mutant strains, including the Brazilian variant. Compared to the original strain, Moderna and AstraZeneca vaccines are less effective against the Brazilian variant. Both companies are still continuing studies.

According to Reuters, Israel has registered eight cases of a coronavirus variant first identified in India. Its Health Ministry said that the Pfizer vaccine is at least partially effective against it.

According to preliminary studies, Covishield and Covaxin vaccines have shown efficacy against the Indian variant of coronavirus. Dr. Karl Lauterbach shared a study conducted in India to his Twitter account, noting that according to the study, India’s Covaxin vaccine is effective against the Indian variant (B.1.617). In addition, early results showed that Covishield vaccine is effective against B.1.617 variant, Rakesh K Mishra, director of the Center for Cellular and Molecular Biology of India, wrote on his Twitter page. Covishield, the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, is being manufactured locally by the Serum Institute of India.

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To receive more information about the issue, Myth Detector reached out to Archil Marshania, an intensive care physician, who said in a telephone conversation that the claim about the Sinopharm vaccine allegedly being useless is not true, because although the WHO has yet to grant emergency use authorization for Sinopharm vaccine, the available data show that it has a 70% efficacy against COVID-19, as well as 80-85% efficacy – against serious complications.

Commenting on the information that people will have to get their third doses of Pfizer vaccine within six months after getting the first dose, Marshania said that no such system is available so far.

Archil Marshania: “We do not know how long its efficacy will last, but we know that it will be about one year. The founders of Pfizer said that it may become necessary to get vaccines in a period from six to twelve months. But this is only a supposition and there are high expectations that the vaccine efficacy will last for a longer period. (Stlucysvision.com) ”

He also noted that the claim as if the available vaccines do not work against new variants is not true either.

Archil Marshania: “It is a lie that none of these vaccines work against the new variants. According to the data of the Center for Cellular and Molecular Biology of India, both AstraZeneca and Covaxin are effective against various strains, including the Indian variant.”


Myth Detector


Archive link:Giorgi Pkhakadze


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Violation: Without evidence
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