Dr. Huerta: Variants of covid-19 put vaccines at risk 3:59
(CNN Spanish) -
The vaccine against the coronavirus and the variants of that disease is a subject of current scientific study.
Researchers from Israel looked at whether the Pfizer / BioNTech antigen protects against the variants identified in the UK and South Africa.
In this episode, Dr. Elmer Huerta explains the results of the investigation.
You can listen to this episode on Spotify or your favorite podcast platform or read the transcript below.
Hello, I am Dr. Elmer Huerta and this is your daily dose of information about the new coronavirus.
Information that we hope will be useful to take care of your health and that of your family.
Today we will see a pre-publication from Tel Aviv University in Israel, reporting that people fully vaccinated with the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine are disproportionately infected with the variants first detected in South Africa and the UK.
Coronavirus variants and the impact on vaccines
The potential that new coronavirus variants could impact the effectiveness of vaccines, molecular diagnostic tests, and even monoclonal antibody-based treatments is so great that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published new ones. guides the manufacturers of these products to adapt them to new variants of the virus.
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As proof that the first-generation vaccines being used may be less effective against newer variants, a prepublication made online on April 9 describes a study showing that people who had already received the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine had higher frequency of infection by the B.1.1.7 variants discovered in the United Kingdom and the B.1.351 discovered in South Africa.
The Israeli investigation
To begin with, the researchers clarify that the studies that have been done so far to determine the effectiveness of vaccines against variants are experimental studies in the laboratory, so they have limitations so that they can be generalized to real life.
To overcome that limitation and find out whether or not the vaccine protects against real-life variants, the researchers designed a study to determine whether those who received the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine and after being vaccinated developed COVID-19 - compared to unvaccinated individuals - more likely to develop infections with one of the variants first detected in South Africa and the United Kingdom.
How did you study the cases?
For that, they studied the cases of people who received a vaccine in the Clalit health system in Israel, a public health insurance organization that includes 53% of the population, and they separated all the people who were infected with the new coronavirus by at least one week after the second dose, and therefore assumed to be fully vaccinated;
and to all those who were infected at least two weeks after the first dose, that is, they were supposed to be partially vaccinated.
In all, they discovered 149 cases of people who became infected while fully vaccinated, and compared them to 149 cases of people who also became infected, but did not receive the vaccine.
Similarly, they identified 247 people who became infected while partially vaccinated, and compared them to 247 people who also became infected, but had not received the vaccine.
And the reason for comparing vaccinated and unvaccinated people in both groups was to find out if there was a difference in the type of virus that infected the two groups.
For that, they had to do a complete genomic sequencing of all the viruses isolated in the people studied, and determine which variant caused the most infections and in which group.
The results: less efficacy against variants
The results of the study showed that - compared to the unvaccinated - the 149 fully vaccinated people were disproportionately infected with the South African variety.
The ratio was 8 to 1, that is, 8 infected in the vaccinated, for 1 in the unvaccinated group.
For their part - compared to the unvaccinated - the 247 partially vaccinated people were disproportionately infected with the British variant.
The proportion was 26 to 10, that is, 26 infected in the vaccinated, by 10 in the unvaccinated.
The researchers conclude that there is a reduction in the efficacy of the vaccine against both variants of the new coronavirus, which occur under different dose and time conditions.
They add that more research is required to check for potential limitations that affect the results.
Will new vaccines be developed against the variants?
In this regard, most of the laboratories are already working on the development of second-generation vaccines that cover the new variants, and the FDA has recommended that for now - and in charge of discussing the details in the future - the new vaccines should not have to go through the lengthy studies of phases 1, 2 and 3, but demonstrate their ability to stimulate the defense system in studies in hundreds of people who have not been previously vaccinated.
By last.
And in terms of prevention, the researchers say that a combination of mass vaccination of the population with two doses, together with the use of masks and social distance would help a lot to contain the spread of the variants, especially of the South African, which currently has a low frequency in there.
There is no doubt that - until second generation vaccines arrive - these recommendations can be applied to all countries affected by the new variants.
Do you have questions about the coronavirus?
Send me your questions on Twitter, we will try to answer them in our next episodes.
You can find me at @DrHuerta.
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Thanks for your attention.
If you have any questions you can send them to Dr. Elmer Huerta through Twitter. You can also head over to CNNE.com/coronaviruspodcast for all episodes of our “Coronavirus: Reality vs. Reality” podcast. fiction".
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