Confidence grows that COVID-19 vaccines can beat variants

Confidence is growing that COVID-19 vaccines authorized for use in the U.S. are holding their own against the coronavirus variants now in circulation.

“Everything we’ve seen with the variants should provide marked reassurance, as far as the protection that is afforded by vaccines — particularly the vaccines that we have in the United States,” said Dr. Eric Topol, director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute in La Jolla, Calif.

There were early concerns in the U.S. about the variant first identified in South Africa (B.1.351). The AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine — which is not authorized for use in the U.S. — was not especially effective against preventing mild disease in South Africa, where the B.1.351 variant dominates (although that vaccine does provide better protection at preventing severe disease and death).

Thankfully, B.1.351 has kept a low profile in the U.S., with only 453 confirmed cases, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Also, new data from Israel and Qatar show that B.1.351 and B.1.117 (the

U.K. variant) “are very well covered” by the PfizerBioNTech and Moderna vaccines, Topol said.

(Those two vaccines account for the vast majority of vaccinations in the U.S.)

In Brazil, a variant known as P.1 is thought to be responsible for a COVID-19 surge that has resulted in a death toll passing 422,000. Only the U.S. has reported more COVID-19 deaths (582,000) , according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. The good news, however, is that data show that “in the lab, the vaccines we have now worked quite well against P.1,” Topol said.

Also,there are early indications that vaccines are effective against a variant first reported in India, a country in the throes of a devastating surge. B.1.617 is known as the double mutant variant because it includes two specific genetic changes that are concerning to scientists.