South African variant could be resistant to vaccine, expert suggests, but new jab could be made in ‘weeks’

A nurse handles a vial of the the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine at the Wolfson medical center in Holon, Israel

Credit:  Kobi Wolf/Bloomberg

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The coronavirus variant currently circulating in South Africa could be resistant to the vaccine, a leading expert has suggested, but cautioned it could take just six weeks to develop a new jab if needed.

Sir John Bell, Regius Professor of Medicine at the University of Oxford, said his “gut feeling” was that the vaccines already on stream would be effective against the new UK strain, which was first identified in Kent.

But he said: “I don’t know about the South African strain, I think that’s a big question mark.”

South Africans were placed on lockdown last week after President Cyril Ramaphosa said that a new variant  – 501.V2 – appeared to be “more contagious” than the virus which circulated during the first wave.

Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, said on December 23 that two cases of the South African strain had been identified in the UK.

The cases and their contacts were quarantined and the Government placed strict restrictions on travel from South Africa.

Anyone who had been in contact with someone who had been in the country within the last two weeks were told they must quarantine.

Speaking to Times Radio, Sir John said he was more concerned about this strain compared to the UK one “by some margin”.

“The mutations associated with the South African form are really pretty substantial changes in the structure of the protein,” he said.

He added that the strain had mutated in the part of the virus which allows antibodies to stick to it.

He added that although there was no data yet on whether it increases severity, “it’s increased the infectiousness, probably by increasing its ability to bind to the human cells”.

Global vaccinations doses administered

Asked whether the current Covid-19 vaccines will be able to tackle both the UK and South African variant, he said the Oxford University team are currently assessing this possibility.

Sir John said there was still “room to maneuver” in relation to the vaccines as they worked “much better than any of us thought they were going to”.

“I think it’s unlikely that these mutations will turn off the effects of vaccines entirely, I think they’ll still have a residual effect,” he said.

He added it was “perfectly possible” to make new vaccines in a matter of weeks if necessary.

“It might take a month, or six weeks, to get a new vaccine, so everybody should stay calm. It’s going to be fine,” he added.

“But we’re now in a game of cat and mouse, because these are not the only two variants we’re gonna see, we’re going to see lots of variants.”

As of December 27, 944,539 people in the UK have received their first dose of the Pfizer vaccine. From Monday, the first doses of the Oxford AstraZeneca jab will be administered.