Protecting from Covid-19 is good, but protecting from its variants, at a time when they are more numerous and more threatening, is better.
Good news fell in this direction on Thursday: the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine retains the vast majority of its effectiveness against the main mutations of the English and South African variants of the coronavirus.
The news comes from a statement released on Thursday by the two companies, the American Pfizer and the German BioNTech, allied in the production of their joint vaccine.
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If this efficiency seems to be well established, caution seems to be in order.
In vitro
tests
"have not shown the need for a new vaccine to deal with emerging variants," say the two companies.
However, these "continue to monitor emerging variants and are ready to respond" if any of these mutations prove to be resistant to the vaccine.
Soon more production
This news completes a rather encouraging week for Pfizer-BioNTech, one of the main vaccine producers in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.
On Tuesday, the French laboratory Sanofi let it be known that it was giving it the keys to its production line.
VIDEO. How this laboratory manages to detect the English variant of Covid-19
Slowed down in the manufacture of its own vaccine, deemed ineffective on the elderly, Sanofi says it is determined to lend a hand to complete the packaging of the competing vaccine.
This boost, which should begin in July, should allow the production of 100 million additional Pfizer-BioNTech doses by the end of the year.