After London declared a state of health emergency as a result of the rapid spread of the new strain of the emerging corona virus that arrived in France, and Israeli concerns about the South African strain, voices rose about the effectiveness of the available vaccines to counter the so-called new mutation, according to the French newspaper “Le Monde “.
The French newspaper indicated that American researchers have shown that the antibodies do not work against the new strain that was identified in South Africa, after several laboratory tests.
The Israeli Ministry of Health warned members of the Knesset that “the South African strain is a cause for concern, as it causes severe symptoms even among young people.”
The acting head of the Public Health Department at the Ministry of Health, Sharon Allroy Press, cited a “worrying” preliminary study indicating that vaccination provides less protection against the South African variant, but stressed that it was not clear the effect of the vaccines on the new strain.
“We are dealing with rapid variables that could jeopardize the effectiveness of the vaccine,” Bryce said during her speech to lawmakers, despite statements by officials in vaccine companies that their products are effective against new strains discovered in Britain and South Africa.
Manufacturers defense
On the other hand, the chief medical officer of Moderna, which manufactured one of the vaccines, Tal Sachs, expressed optimism about the effectiveness of the vaccine against the new strain.
The French newspaper quoted the company as saying: “First, the vaccine consists of dozens of antibodies not of one type, in addition to our reliance on bioinformatics in the manufacture of genetic DNA, and this means that it will prove its effectiveness on the South African and British strains.”
In turn, the company “Pfizer” explained that “its vaccine is based on the protein Spike, which contains about 1275 amino acids, at a time when the new strains do not constitute ten of them.”.
E484 mutation
The French newspaper concluded by talking about the “E484” mutation, which is widespread in South Africa, which may be the real source of concern, noting that the CEO of the “Biontech” company confirmed that the vaccine would be adapted to the new strain within six weeks.
The researchers tested the “E484” mutation alone, as it is the fastest in spreading. However, the director of studies and research at the French Pasteur Institute mentioned that there is a remarkable indication among the infected, as the African strain may have different symptoms and varying severity between patients.
Hereditary DNA
Both the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines share the same method, which is an unauthorized technology called messenger RNA, or mRNA, to produce an immune response in people who are vaccinated.
In other words, vaccines deliver the genetic DNA (mRNA) or (RNA), to the human body to turn cells into proteins that have protrusions that make antibodies similar to the protrusions that are above the Corona virus.
