2/7/2021 Covid: Oxford jab offers less S Africa variant protection - BBC News

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Covid: Oxford jab offers less S Africa variant

protection
1 hour ago

Coronavirus pandemic

PA MEDIA

Oxford-AstraZeneca's vaccine offers "minimal protection" against mild

disease from the South Africa variant, scientists say early trials suggest.

A new study not yet peer reviewed involved about 2 000 people who were on
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2/7/2021 Covid: Oxford jab offers less S Africa variant protection - BBC News
A new study, not yet peer reviewed, involved about 2,000 people who were on
average 31 years old.

But Prof Sarah Gilbert, Oxford lead vaccine developer, said vaccines should
still protect against severe disease.

She added that developers were likely to have a modified jab by the autumn to
combat the South Africa variant.

"We have a version with the South African spike sequence in the works," Prof
Gilbert told the BBC's Andrew Marr.

More than 100 cases of the South Africa variant have been found in the UK.

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A study outlining early trials, first reported by the Financial Times, suggests
the vaccine offered "minimal protection" against mild and moderate disease
caused by the variant, the University of Oxford said.

AstraZeneca said the jab offered "limited" protection against mild and
moderate disease caused by the variant.

Prof Gilbert told the Andrew Marr Show that even if the vaccine proved less
effective against emerging variants, pressure would still be taken off the NHS
because of the protection it does afford.

"Maybe we won't be reducing the number of cases as much, but we still won't
be seeing the deaths, hospitalisations and severe disease," she said.

"That's really important for healthcare systems - even if we are having mild
and asymptomatic infections, to prevent people going into hospital with Covid
would have a major effect."

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2/7/2021 Covid: Oxford jab offers less S Africa variant protection - BBC News

This isn't a complete surprise.

The mutation involved - known as E484K - seems to help the virus dodge
immunity built up to previous variants and current vaccines.

Real world trials of two other vaccines (Janssen and Novavax) showed a dip in
performance in South Africa too.

This is the same mutation that has also appeared in some cases of the "Kent
variant" in the UK.

We are still waiting for scientists to publish their report in order to find out
what "limited" means in hard numbers.

If people are still getting sick, even if it's mild, then they can spread the virus
and that will make it harder to get on top of cases.

If the Oxford vaccine can prevent severe disease, and AstraZeneca thinks it
will, then it would still be a life-saving vaccine.

But it is clear coronavirus is a moving target and that we may need to change
vaccines in the future to keep up.

A spokesman for AstraZeneca said they had not yet been able to properly
establish whether the jab would prevent severe disease and hospitalisation
caused by the South Africa variant because those involved in the study had
predominantly been young, healthy adults.

But the company expressed confidence that the vaccine would offer
protection against serious cases, because it created neutralising antibodies
similar to those of other coronavirus vaccines.

The study is due to be published on Monday.

Andrew Pollard, professor of paediatric infection and immunity and chief

investigator on the Oxford vaccine trial, said: "This study confirms that the
pandemic coronavirus will find ways to continue to spread in vaccinated
populations, as expected, but, taken with the promising results from other
studies in South Africa using a similar viral vector, vaccines may continue to
ease the toll on health care systems by preventing severe disease."

Meanwhile, vaccine minister Nadhim Zahawi told the BBC's Andrew Marr that
annual vaccines or a booster in the autumn could be required to combat
variants.

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2/7/2021 Covid: Oxford jab offers less S Africa variant protection - BBC News

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On Saturday, AstraZeneca said its vaccine provided good protection against

the variant first discovered in Kent, which is now dominant in the UK.

Current vaccines were designed around earlier versions of coronavirus, but

scientists believe they should still work against the new ones, although it is
not yet clear how well they work against different mutations.

Early results suggest the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine protects against the new
variants.

Data on two new coronavirus vaccines that could be approved soon - one from
Novavax and another from Janssen - appear to offer some protection.

And early results from Moderna suggest its vaccine is still effective against
the South Africa variant.

Experts say vaccines could be redesigned and tweaked to be a better match

for new variants in a matter of weeks or months if necessary.

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Meanwhile, workplace Covid testing is being offered to more companies

in England and GPs will be paid an additional £10 by the NHS for every
housebound patient they vaccinate

The government has ruled out plans to issue so-called "vaccine passports"
to enable people who have had the jab against coronavirus to travel
abroad.

Latest figures showed another 828 people in the UK have died within 28
days of a positive Covid test, and there were a further 18,262 cases.

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Related Topics

AstraZeneca Coronavirus pandemic Coronavirus vaccines Vaccination

South Africa University of Oxford

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