Naked Science Forum

Life Sciences => Physiology & Medicine => COVID-19 => Topic started by: katieHaylor on 14/01/2021 17:37:20

Title: Will the vaccines work against the South African variant of SARS-CoV-2?
Post by: katieHaylor on 14/01/2021 17:37:20

Josh asks:

Do we know yet if the vaccine will work for the UK and South African variants of the Covid 19 virus?

Title: Re: Will the vaccines work against the South African variant of SARS-CoV-2?
Post by: alancalverd on 14/01/2021 19:15:52

Probably, and certainly better than nothing. AFAIK not many people can choose which variant they are exposed to. 

Title: Re: Will the vaccines work against the South African variant of SARS-CoV-2?
Post by: evan_au on 14/01/2021 19:52:32

Tests against these more recent strains are ongoing.
- They look at the genetic sequence - since most vaccines target the spike protein, mutations in the spike protein are of more concern
- They test in the dish - can immune cells trained on the vaccine identify and attack the new strain of virus?
- They monitor in the field - has anyone who has been fully vaccinated become infected with the virus? If so, which strain?

However, the latter test will be less effective in the UK, since there will be few fully-vaccinated people, and many partially-vaccinated people.