COVID: ?escape mutant virus
i will send out several blogs in the next few days on the B.1.1.7 variant, but will start with this ominous one: A new pre-print, pre-peer review article found that a new mutation of the UK B.1.1.7 variant may “escape” vaccine protection (see covid escape mutant UK medRxiv2021 in dropbox, or https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.01.19.21249840v2 ) . the point of this study is that the B.1.1.7 variant of SARS-CoV-2 is pretty universal and rapidly gaining ground worldwide. And there continue to be ongoing mutations. This study focused on the neutralizing antibody potential produced by vaccination on several of these newer mutations. Details: -- 23 people who had received the Pfizer mRNA vaccine (BNT162b2), a full-length trimerised S protein of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, were studied after a single immunization -- median age 82, 30% female -- the y assessed neutralizing antibody responses using pseudo-viruses expressing the wi...