Sinopharm vaccine may be better against Covid-19 variants: experts

  DUBAI – The Chinese-made Sinopharm vaccine may be more effective against Covid-19 variants, health experts have said. The UAE-approved Sinopharm uses an inactivated version of the coronavirus, which means the vaccine was made using a dead version of the virus. Luke O’Neill, biochemistry professor at Trinity College Dublin, told media this makes inactivated vaccines better in protecting against virus mutations since it trains the body to fight all parts of the virus and not just its spike. O’Neill said that because inactivated vaccines are created using a dead version of the virus, the immune system will be able to build “lots of weapons” against any variant of the virus. Vaccines like Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, Oxford-AstraZeneca and Russia’s Sputnik V use mRNA, a molecule that instructs the body to create a spike protein that sets off an immune response. White House health advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci earlier warned that that spike protein vaccines may not be as effective against new Covid-19 variants. A study by South Africa’s National Institute for Communicable Diseases also echoed Fauci’s claims, saying that a variant of Covid-19 in South Africa can evade antibodies. Researchers from the institute said the findings “may foreshadow reduced efficacy of current spike-based vaccines”. In the UAE, vaccines from Sinopharm and Pfizer-BioNTech are being distributed to the public as part of a free and voluntary vaccination campaign, while clinical trials for Sputnik V are underway. ICA/Expat Media
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