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BNT162b2 Vaccination Efficacy is Marginally Affected by the SARS-CoV-2 B.1.351 Variant in Fully Vaccinated Individuals

22 Pages Posted: 19 Jul 2021

See all articles by Orna Mor

Orna Mor

Sheba Medical Center - Central Virology Laboratory

Neta S. Zuckerman

Sheba Medical Center - Central Virology Laboratory

Itay Hazan

Ministry of Health (Israel)

Ronen Fluss

Sheba Medical Center - Gertner Institute for Epidemiology and Health Policy Research

Nachman Ash

Israel Ministry of Health

Netanel Ginish

Israel Ministry of Health

Ella Mendelson

Sheba Medical Center - Central Virology Laboratory

Sharon Alroy-Preis

Ministry of Health (Israel) - Department of Maternal and Child Health

Laurence Freedman

Chaim Sheba Medical Center - The Gertner Institute for Epidemiology & Health Policy Research

Amit Huppert

Sheba Medical Center - Central Virology Laboratory; Chaim Sheba Medical Center - Bio-statistical and Bio-mathematical Unit

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Abstract

Background: Israeli has vaccinated over 80% of its adult population, with two doses of the Pfizer BNT162b2 vaccine. This intervention has been highly successful in curtailing the coronavirus 2 outbreak. One major concern is the ability of the virus to mutate which potentially can cause SARS-CoV-2 to partially escape from the immune system. Here we evaluate the efficacy of the Pfizer vaccine against the B.1.351 variant.

Methods: The Ministry of Health, initiated sequencing of selected positive swab samples identified as being of interest. We used logistic regression, with variant type as the dependent variable, vaccination status as the main explanatory variable, controlling for age, sex, subpopulation, place of residence and time of sample, to estimate the odds ratio for a vaccinated case to have the B. 1.351 versus the B.1.1.7 variant, within vaccinated and unvaccinated persons who tested positive.

Findings: There were 19 cases of B.1.351 variant (3.2%) among those vaccinated more than 14 days before the positive sample and 88 (3.5%) among the unvaccinated. The estimated odds ratio was 1.29 [95% CI: 0.66-2.50]. From this result, assuming the efficacy against the B.1.1.7 variant to be 95%, the estimated efficacy against the B.1.351 variant was 94% [95% CI: 87-97%].

Interpretation: Despite the concerns caused by the B.1.351 variant, the BNT162b2 vaccine seems to provide substantial immunity against both that variant and the B.1.1.7. Our results suggest that from 14 days following the second vaccine dose the efficacy of BNT162b2 vaccine is at most marginally affected by the B.1.351 variant.

Funding Information: No funding.

Declaration of Interests: I confirm that none of the authors has related work submitted to another journal and that none have any conflict of interest regarding the content of the manuscript.

Suggested Citation

Mor, Orna and Zuckerman, Neta S. and Hazan, Itay and Fluss, Ronen and Ash, Nachman and Ginish, Netanel and Mendelson, Ella and Alroy-Preis, Sharon and Freedman, Laurence and Huppert, Amit, BNT162b2 Vaccination Efficacy is Marginally Affected by the SARS-CoV-2 B.1.351 Variant in Fully Vaccinated Individuals. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3878825 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3878825

Orna Mor

Sheba Medical Center - Central Virology Laboratory ( email )

Ramat-Gan
Israel

Neta S. Zuckerman

Sheba Medical Center - Central Virology Laboratory ( email )

Ramat-Gan
Israel

Itay Hazan

Ministry of Health (Israel) ( email )

Israel

Ronen Fluss

Sheba Medical Center - Gertner Institute for Epidemiology and Health Policy Research ( email )

Chaim Sheba Medical Center
Tel Hashomer, 52621
Israel

Nachman Ash

Israel Ministry of Health ( email )

Israel

Netanel Ginish

Israel Ministry of Health ( email )

Israel

Ella Mendelson

Sheba Medical Center - Central Virology Laboratory ( email )

Ramat-Gan
Israel

Sharon Alroy-Preis

Ministry of Health (Israel) - Department of Maternal and Child Health

Jerusalem
Israel

Laurence Freedman

Chaim Sheba Medical Center - The Gertner Institute for Epidemiology & Health Policy Research ( email )

Amit Huppert (Contact Author)

Sheba Medical Center - Central Virology Laboratory ( email )

Ramat-Gan
Israel

Chaim Sheba Medical Center - Bio-statistical and Bio-mathematical Unit ( email )

Tel Hashomer
Ramat-Gan
Israel