Tags
AstraZeneca, BioNTech, California, coronavirus, COVID, England, Johnson and Johnson, mutations, New York city, Pfizer, SinoVac, South Africa, Sputnik 5, Wales
B.1.427/B.1.429 – California
B.1.1.7 – southern England and Wales
B.1.351 – South Africa
B.1.526 – New York City. This has apparently been around since November and features the E484K (glutamic acid to lysine) and the S477N (serine to asparagine) mutations.
Pfizer and BioNTech have announced plans to study the effects of a third COVID-19 vaccine dose – the current thinking is six to twelve months after the second dose.
I would expect a clearly stated official announcement from AstraZeneca shortly. FDA approval for Johnson and Johnson is expected any minute now so there will likely be a commitment to start or restart studies involving a booster to counter the variants. That would leave China’s SinoVac and Russia’s Sputnik 5 makers to make announcements.
LATE FLASH: the FDA just approved Johnson and Johnson’s vaccine – it is different because it requires (so far) just a single shot and just ordinary refrigeration.