Amid mounting fears over a new, reportedly more-infectious mutation of the novel coronavirus that has rapidly spread across the United Kingdom and in some cases to other countries through travellers thereof, the CEO of German pharma firm BioNTech has expressed confidence that, if necessary, an updated vaccine for the new strain could be made available within six weeks.
Significantly, he has also stated that the current vaccine could be effective against the new strain, but if necessary, a new vaccine could be engineered.
CEO Ugur Sahin on Tuesday told a news conference that the proteins on the UK variant are 99 per cent the same as on the prevailing strains, and therefore BioNTech has "scientific confidence" that its vaccine will be effective, AFP reported.
"But we will know it only if the experiment is done and we will need about two weeks from now to get the data," he said. "The likelihood that our vaccine works...is relatively high."
"But scientifically, it is highly likely that the immune response by this vaccine also can deal with the new virus variants."
But if needed, "in principle the beauty of the messenger technology is that we can directly start to engineer a vaccine which completely mimics this new mutation—we could be able to provide a new vaccine technically within six weeks."
The variant, detected mainly in London and the southeast of England in recent weeks, has sparked concern worldwide because of signs that it may spread more easily. While there is no indication it causes more serious illness, numerous countries in Europe and beyond have restricted travel from the UK as a result.
Should the vaccine need to be adjusted for the new variant the company could do so in about 6 weeks, Sahin said, though regulators might have to approve the changes before the shots can be used.
Having to adjust the vaccine would be a blow for the rollout of immunization campaigns and rein in the pandemic that has so far killed more than 1.7 million people worldwide.
BioNTech's vaccine, which was developed together with U.S. pharmaceutical company Pfizer, has been authorised for use in more than 45 countries including Britain, the United States and the EU. Hundreds of thousands of people have already received the shots.
The companies submitted data to regulators showing the vaccine, which goes by the brand name COMIRNATY in Europe, is 95 per cent effective in preventing infection with COVID-19.
Germany is among the European countries that have banned flights from the U.K. because of the new variant there. Over 40 countries have banned flights from the UK so far, a move that has pushed the country to urgently negotiate re-opening trade links, particularly with neighbouring countries like France, whose travel ban has already resulting in disruptions of freight from the port of Dover.
"We want to avoid for as long as we can that a possibly dangerous virus variant spreads to continental Europe," said German Health Minister Jens Spahn.
But Lothar Wieler, the head of Germany's national disease control center, said it was very likely the U.K. variant is already circulating in Germany.
As of Tuesday, six positive COVID-19 cases were found in Indians returning from the UK, with testing ongoing to determine whether it was of the new strain. Since this strain has been in circulation since September, there is a likelihood that it has spread in countries besides the UK. Dr Anthony Fauci, the US’s leading expert on epidemiology, said the strain “very well might be here for all we know”.
The new variant, known as VUI–202012/01 or lineage B.1.1.7, has 17 mutations—more than the usual number of mutations seen globally. According to UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock, it is believed to be about 70 per cent more infectious than current circulating strains of the virus. However, this figure remains uncertain and more investigations are needed to determine whether and why the new strain is more infectious.
With inputs from PTI
