Oxford scientists are reportedly readying to rapidly produce new versions of their vaccine in a bid to combat the new more contagious variants found in the UK, South Africa and Brazil.
The team behind the vaccine from Oxford and AstraZeneca Plc are undertaking studies to reconfigure the technology, the Telegraph reports.
The scientists are said to be working on estimates as to how quickly they could reconfigure their ChAdOx vaccine platform.
An Oxford spokesperson was reported to have said that the university is carefully assessing the impact of new variants on vaccine immunity and evaluating the processes needed for rapid development of adjusted Covid vaccines if these should be necessary.
Earlier this month Professor Katie Ewer, associate professor and senior immunologist, and Dr Maheshi Ramasamy from the Oxford vaccine team, said they had no concerns that the new South African variant would render the vaccine ineffective.
Professor Katie told This Morning: "I think it’s important to know about how the vaccine works, it trains your immune system to recognise the spike protein on the outside of the virus.
"But your antibodies and your white blood cells and your immune system, they don’t just recognise one part of that spike, they recognise lots of different parts of it.
"So even if there are odd mutations here and there, you will still have other antibodies that can recognise other parts of the spike."
Previously Professor Andrew Pollard, Director of the Oxford Vaccine Group, said it could be “entirely possible” to tweak vaccines for them to provide immunisation against other variants.
He told the Today programme: “At the moment there’s no evidence that the vaccines won’t work against a new variant but that is something which we have to look at."
It comes after scientists around the world became alarmed by the rapid spread of the new 501.v2 variant first detected in South Africa, and the equally infectious B.1.1.7 variant that has led to a recent surge in cases in the UK.
Another new strain is also causing concern, detected in four Japanese travellers who had recently returned from Brazil’s Amazonas state.
While not yet classified as a new variant, Brazilian scientists believe the mutation emerged in the region, which is currently experiencing a surge in cases.
