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Pfizer vaccine 'works' against key variant mutation, study suggests

08 January 2021 20:14 (UTC +04:00)

The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine can still target a key mutation that has emerged in two new variants of coronavirus, laboratory studies show, APA reports citing BBC.

However, this is only one of many mutations that are found in the new forms of the virus.

So while the study has been welcomed, it is not being seen as definitive scientific evidence about how the vaccine will perform.

New variants have been detected in the UK and South Africa.

Both forms of the virus are spreading more quickly and this has raised questions over what level of protection vaccines can offer against them.

The widely held view is that vaccines will still work, but researchers are on the hunt for proof.

This is thought to be important because it is in the part of the virus that makes first contact with our body's cells and changes could make it easier to get in and cause an infection.