Pfizer vaccine may be affective against the Britain coronavirus variant

The Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine is likely to protect against the coronavirus variant discovered in Britain, lab tests showed on Wednesday.

According to Reuters, results from an analysis of blood of participants in trials were positive. «The latest study, posted on bioRxiv.org but not yet peer reviewed, was conducted on a synthetic virus with 10 mutations that are characteristic of the variant known as B117 identified in Britain», the same source.

The analysis gives hope as the new Covid-19 variant has been spreading to other countries, including Morocco. The results also show that vaccine development would not have to start all over again.

«This makes it very unlikely that the UK variant will escape from the protection provided by the vaccine», said Jonathan Stoye, a specialist in virus science at Britain’s Francis Crick Institute.

For the record, Morocco’s health authorities announced on Monday evening that they had recorded the first confirmed case of the coronavirus strain recently discovered in the United Kingdom. 

A statement from the Ministry of Health indicated that the case was detected at the port of Tanger Med, when a Moroccan coming from Ireland, arrived by boat via the port of Marseille.