The indications presented by Pfizer, on Wednesday (8), that three doses of its immunizing agent against Covid-19 neutralize the Ômicron variant are “encouraging”, but still lack evidence that the efficiency also occurs outside the laboratories .
The assessment is by Romulo Néris, from UFRJ, in an interview with CNN Radio this Thursday (9). The Butantan Institute has also already mentioned Coronavac’s effectiveness against new variants. According to the virologist, more complete tests are still needed.
Néris explains that the first phase of evaluating the efficiency of the immunizing agent against a variant such as Ômicron requires the use of bioinformatics tools, “which are computer models, to determine how the spike protein, the one that serves as a key to the virus, behaves enter our cell and manage to make a prediction as to whether it is more transmissible”, he explained.
“The next phase is to look in the serum of patients with vaccines to see if it neutralizes the antibodies, then look at the population of immunized individuals where this variant is circulating to see if it ended up consolidating”, he added.
The virologist emphasizes, however, that the research is no less important, but that they are steps that must be taken. “It is noteworthy that the studies are preliminary, they are tests carried out in laboratories, they are still evaluating the real effectiveness in the population. They are based on comparing whether the virus can be neutralized or inactivated in the presence of the serum of vaccinated people.”
Romulo also assesses that the variants are not the final barrier against the coronavirus and that, while the virus circulates, “it will continue to multiply and mutate, so it is necessary to combine vaccination with other non-pharmacological protection measures”, ends.
Reference: CNN Brasil
