Moderna, Pzifer vaccines form T cells to fight variant: Study

In a significant development towards finding solutions to fight Covid-19 variants, researchers have been able to find out the presence of T cells with the ability to recognise Covid-19 variants in people who have recovered from Covid-19 or have got the Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines.

The study, published in Cell Reports Medicine, includes data on the four major SARS-CoV-2 variants -- Alpha (B.1.1.7), Beta (B.1.351), Gamma (P.1) and Epsilon (B.1.427/B.1.429). It found out that both “helper” T cells and “killer” T cells in those people can recognise the mutated varieties of the Covid-19 virus.

According to The Indian Express report, La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI) website mentions that before the Delta variant became prevalent, the research was already initiated.

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In the research, three categories of people were analysed for the study-- Covid-19 recovered people, people vaccinated with Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, and samples of people before the pandemic who were never exposed to the Covid-19 virus.

Along with the Covid-19 recovered patients, vaccinated individuals also had T cells that could target variants. This indicates that Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine can work towards protection against Covid-19 variants.