Written By: Longjam Dineshwori | Updated : February 4, 2021 8:58 PM IST
Image credits by: Mild side effects are "expected" and "common" within two or three days after vaccination, says WHO.
As more countries roll out Covid-19 vaccination programmes, emerging Covid-19 variants are creating concern among researchers and medical professional. Not just some of the new variants of SARS-CoV-2 are more contagious but they also appear to be more deadly than the original coronavirus strain that led to the pandemic. Some experts have also raised concern that the Covid-19 mutants may reduce the effectiveness of the currently approved vaccines. In fact, top officials at the European Union (EU) have acknowledged the need for rapid development and production of vaccines against the emerging Covid-19 variants. Recently, EU held a meeting with the CEOs of the drug giants like BioNTech/Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, CureVac and Sanofi in this regard.
The Oxford-AstraZeneca research team is reportedly considering updating their Covid-19 vaccine to make it more effective against the new mutants. They are hopeful that a vaccine to tackle the Covid-19 variants could be ready by autumn.
Designing a new vaccine can be done very, very quickly, as it essentially just requires switching out the genetic sequence for the spike protein, said Andrew Pollard, Chief Investigator of the Oxford Vaccine Trial, at a media briefing hosted by AstraZeneca.
"And then there's manufacturing to do and then a small-scale study. So, all of that can be completed in a very short period of time, and the autumn is really the timing for having new vaccines available for use," IANS quoted him as saying.
A new Oxford University study claimed that even just the first of the two-dose Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine can cut coronavirus transmissions by around 67 per cent. The Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine showed 76 per cent efficacy from day 22 to day 90 after the first shot. This means a single standard dose of the vaccine can offer protection against the deadly virus for as long as three months.
The Serum Institute of India is producing Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine in India, where it is called Covishied. It is one of the two vaccines used for the ongoing vaccination drive.
Scientists have found some worrying new genetic changes in the Covid-19 variant, called B.1.1.7, which has been rapidly spreading in the United Kingdom (UK). Specially they have identified a mutation, called E484K, which they fear could make current vaccines less effective. This mutation has been detected in the South Africa and Brazil variants of the virus as well.
The discovery of this mutation has prompted surge-testing in various areas of England to prevent community transmission.
Because E484K mutation can allow the virus to evade or partially evade antibodies, it is also known as "escape mutation."
These are one of the mutations that occur in the receptor-binding domain (RBD) section of the virus's spike protein. Mutations in this section allows the virus to bind more tightly to human cells, as well as evade the antibodies developed following vaccination or infection. All these may make the variant more infectious.
The name "E484K" denotes the position in the string of RNA (the virus's genetic code) that it occurs (484). While "E" refers to the amino acid that was originally at this location (glutamic acid), K identifies the amino acid that is now in that location (lysine).
Studies have found that while the effectiveness of the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines against variants carrying the E484K mutation was slightly reduced for some people, they still offer good protection against the disease.
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