Vaccines not working against Beta: Study

BOSTON: A study of the spike protein of Sars-CoV-2, the coronavirus that cause Covid-19, suggests that current vaccines may be less effective against the Beta variant of the virus that was first identified in South Africa.

Present on the surface of SarsCoV-2, spike proteins enable the virus to enter our cells, and all the current Covid-19 vaccines are directed against them.

The study, published in the journal Science on June 24, used cryo-electron microscopy known as Cryo-Em - to compare the spike protein from the first coronavirus variant found in China in 2019, with that of the Beta variant as well as the Alpha variant, which was first identified in the UK. Cryo-Em is an imaging technique used to determine the biomolecular structures at near-atomic resolution.

The findings led by researchers at Boston Children’s Hospital in the US indicate that mutations in the Beta variant, also known as B.1.351, change the shape of the spike surface at certain locations.

As a result, neutralising antibodies induced by current vaccines are less able to bind to the Beta virus, which may allow it to evade the immune system even when people are vaccinated.

“The mutations make antibodies stimulated by the current vaccine less effective,” said Bing Chen, from the division of Molecular Medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital.

“The Beta variant is somewhat resistant to the current vaccines, and we think a booster with the new genetic sequence can be beneficial for protecting against this variant,” Chen explained.