AstraZeneca and Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines appeared to be effective against the UK COVID-19 variant, according to Duque.
Health Secretary Francisco Duque III on Wednesday said that Pfizer-BioNTech and AstraZeneca-Oxford COVID-19 vaccines appeared to be effective against the UK COVID-19 variant.
Duque, however, warned tht the coronavirus had been mutating, which could affect the efficacy of existing COVID-19 vaccines on new variants.
Amidst reports of a mutation in the United Kingdom that could allow COVID-19 to escape antibody protection, the health chief assured the public a task force was monitoring these developments.
“Mayroon siyang evasive characteristic. Hindi pa rin natin masabi, wala pa namang data to conclude na talagang that is now a fact. I think they are still gathering more data, and they are investigating. ‘Yung mutation naman, kung mababantayan mo, through bio-surveillance. Kaya nga nag-utos si Pangulong Duterte na magtatag ng task force on COVID-19 variants,” Duque said.
Duque also said that there’s a good chance COVID-19 vaccines could also prevent the spread of coronavirus disease but it has yet to be backed by data.
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Earlier, British scientists said that the UK COVID-19 variant had developed a concerning mutation in a small number of cases, which could reduce the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines.
According to Public Health England, there had been 11 reports of the UK COVID-19 variant which feature the “E484K” mutation, mostly in south-west England.
The “E484K” mutation — which occurred on the spike protein of the coronavirus — was the same change as had been seen in the Brazilian and South African COVID-19 variants that have caused international concern.
Some laboratory studies have found that COVID-19 vaccines and antibody therapy were less effective against the South African COVID-19 variant.
By contrast, early evidence showed that COVID-19 vaccines worked just as well against the UK COVID-19 variant, which originally didn’t have the “E484K” mutation.
Vaccine czar Sec. Carlito Galvez Jr. earlier said that the Philippines would be receiving at least 5.6 million doses of Pfizer and AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines from the COVAX Facility.
Galvez, who was also the chief implementer of the National Task Force Against COVID-19, said that the COVID-19 vaccines were expected to arrive in the country as early as the first quarter of the year.
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