Preliminary Study Finds Pfizer's COVID-19 Vaccine Effective Against UK, South Africa Variants: WSJ

Pfizer Inc PFE, in a preliminary lab study, found that its COVID-19 vaccine co-developed by BioNTech SE BNTX is effective against the new mutation variants found in the U.K. and South Africa, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The new variants had only a small impact on the effectiveness of antibodies generated by the COVID-19 vaccine.
The study was posted on Wednesday on the bioRxiv online server and is not peer-reviewed yet.
The study claims that antibodies were slightly less effective against mutations in the South Africa variant.
Pfizer’s lab study tested only a subset of mutations found in the variants, but not the variants themselves.
Pfizer said that “findings do not indicate the need for a new vaccine to address the emerging variants,” but the company is prepared to respond to a vaccine-resistant version of the virus.
Price Action: PFE shares are down 0.52% at $36.05 in the pre-market session on the last check Thursday.