- The coronavirus variant first detected in South Africa may overcome some of the protection the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine offers, but infections in vaccinated people are still rare.
- These breakthrough infections can occur with any vaccine. They’re not an indication that they’re ineffective.
- Laboratory studies suggest this variant may also be able to evade the neutralizing antibodies that result from vaccination.
The coronavirus variant first detected in South Africa may be able to evade some of the protection offered by two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, according to a new preprint study based on real-world data in Israel.
However, the authors point out that in spite of this ability, the rate of this variant in Israel remains very low.
In addition, no infections caused by this variant occurred in people 2 weeks or more after they received their second dose.
The authors write that this suggests that the transmission of concerning variants can be controlled with high vaccination rates and precautions, such as masking and physical distancing.
Source: healthline