The American pharmaceutical company Pfizer has announced that corona vaccines can be transported more easily • Research in Israel has shown that the vaccine is effective even after one dose
Pfizer vaccine.
Antibody protection was reduced in the face of the South African mutation
Photo:
Reuters
Pfizer announced on Friday that its vaccine can be stored at standard freezing temperatures for two weeks rather than extremely cold conditions (\ minus sixty to minus eighty).
This means that it will be possible to transport the company's vaccine under much more favorable conditions and thus increase the rate of immunization in the population considerably.
The company applied to the FDA for approval to change the terms of the freeze.
According to media reports in the United States, research in Israel has shown that the vaccine is effective even after a single dose.
Senior Ministry of Health: The South African variant has several mutations // Archive photo: Knesset channel
Reuters reported on Thursday that according to a study conducted by the company in collaboration with the University of Texas, the protection provided by the neutralizing antibodies was reduced by two-thirds against the South African variant.
In the study, the scientists developed an engineered virus that contained the mutation and tested it on blood samples taken from vaccines.
The researchers concluded that the vaccine was still resistant to the corona virus.
According to the report, Pfizer is currently working with regulators to develop an updated version of the mRNA vaccine.
One of the study's authors, Prof. Fei Yong Shai of the University of Texas, estimates that although the level of antibodies needed to protect against the virus is still unclear, the Pfizer vaccine can still repel the variant.
