Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine effective against South African variant, study suggests

New strains of the virus that appeared in the UK and South Africa share the same N501Y mutation (Nick Potts/PA)

The Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine is effective against the coronavirus variant that emerged from South Africa, according to a new study.

In a study of 20 vaccine recipients, researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) at Galveston, America, found that the vaccine neutralises the virus with the N501Y and E484K mutations.