• Alexander Muik, Ann-Kathrin Wallisch, Bianca Sänger, Kena A Swanson, Julia Mühl, Wei Chen, Hui Cai, Daniel Maurus, Ritu Sarkar, Özlem Türeci, Philip R Dormitzer, and Uğur Şahin.
• BioNTech, An der Goldgrube 12, 55131 Mainz, Germany.
• Science. 2021 Mar 12; 371 (6534): 1152-1153.

AbstractRecently, a new severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) lineage called B.1.1.7 (variant of concern: VOC 202012/01), which is reported to spread more efficiently and faster than other strains, emerged in the United Kingdom. This variant has an unusually large number of mutations, with 10 amino acid changes in the spike (S) protein, raising concerns that its recognition by neutralizing antibodies may be affected. In this study, we tested SARS-CoV-2-S pseudoviruses bearing either the Wuhan reference strain or the B.1.1.7 lineage spike protein with sera of 40 participants who were vaccinated in a previously reported trial with the messenger RNA-based COVID-19 vaccine BNT162b2. The immune sera had slightly reduced but overall largely preserved neutralizing titers against the B.1.1.7 lineage pseudovirus. These data indicate that the B.1.1.7 lineage will not escape BNT162b2-mediated protection.Copyright © 2021 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works.

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