Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine effective against Brazilian variant in lab test

The Covid-19 vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech was able to neutralize the new Brazilian variant of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, according to a laboratory study published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Monday.

Tests were conducted using blood taken from people who had been given the vaccine and neutralized an engineered version of the virus containing the same mutations as the new variant.

Scientists said the neutralizing ability was roughly equivalent to the vaccine’s effect on a previous less contagious version of the virus from 2020.

Pfizer’s vaccine has already neutralized other more contagious variants first identified in the United Kingdom and South Africa, although the South African variant may reduce protective antibodies elicited by the vaccine.

In response, the drugmakers were planning to add a third dose of their vaccine as well as a version retooled specifically to combat the South African variant.