Live view of our neutralization assay team scrambling to make yet another virus variant every time the media publishes about a new single amino acid change without context. 😒
Here is the context: you are going to read and hear about a million and one variant viruses, because viruses mutate by nature. It’s scary, I know. But, a couple of amino acids is not the same a whole whole new virus strain in the way that we’ve been taught to think about flu.
What is happening, often times, is selective pressure. As the virus transmits it learns how to be better at transmitting. This is why you hear “circulating faster than last variant”...
But, don’t get in a panic over it. There will take a large amount of genetic diversity to completely make the current vaccines useless... And, here is why:
Unlike monoclonal antibody therapies, vaccines (especially those using the whole spike protein) make polyclonal antibody responses. This means that the antibodies your vaccinated body will make will be able to bind the coronavirus spike in multiple places... not just one.
Remember in April when media had y’all scared over a mutation...
Then here came the D614G mutation that had reviewers on our neck... and then boom... in the mouse paper we added results showing “mRNA-1273 induces potent neutralizing antibody responses to both wild-type (D614) and D614G mutant SARS-CoV-2” nature.com/articles/s4158…
In all, please don’t be alarmed any more than you have been through this pandemic. The precautionary measures (ie. no travel) in the UK are in line with sensible measures following a regional virus spike.
Very reassuring data from @TheMenacheryLab et. al. on the Pfizer vaccine eliciting neutralizing antibodies to N501Y mutant SARS-CoV-2!
Read the Full Statement of the @WHO's "Emergency Committee on COVID-19 Advises on Variants, Vaccines" here >>>
who.int/news/item/15-0…
"... investigated SARS-CoV-2-S pseudoviruses bearing (...)
B.1.1.7 lineage spike protein with sera of 16 participants in (...) the (@pfizer) mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine. The immune sera had equivalent neutralizing titers to both variants." biorxiv.org/content/10.110…
I’m just gonna post my boss here saying what I been done said. Maybe y’all will believe him.
The neutralization teams have a message:
"Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine Retains Neutralizing Activity Against Emerging Variants First Identified in the U.K. and the Republic of South Africa"
Sorry to those who I've been ignoring yin this regard for weeks lol
The pre-print is now live: mRNA-1273 vaccine induces neutralizing antibodies against spike mutants from global SARS-CoV-2 variants biorxiv.org/content/10.110…
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