Question: Which of the following company has recently declared that it can develop vaccine for new corona virus strain in just six weeks?
a) Bharat Biotech
b) Jydus Cadila
c) BioNTech
d) Moderna
Answer : (c)
Related Facts :
- On 22 December 2020; German pharmaceutical company BioNTech declared that if needed, it could also provide a vaccine to combat the new strain of corona virus in six weeks.
- It should be known that around second week of December 2020 the new SARS-CoV-2 variant was revealed to be the reason behind the rapid surge in Covid-19 cases in South and East England.
- This new strain of corona virus is being referred to as VUI (Variant Under Investigation) 202012/01, or the B.1.1.7 lineage.
- UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock told the House of commons on14 December 2020.
- UK authorities have already notified the World Health Organization about the variant.
- Public Health England (PHE) announced that 1,108 cases with this variant have been identified as of 13 December 2020, predominantly in the South and East of England.
- The variant is the result of multiple mutations in the spike protein of the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, as well as mutations in other genomic regions of the RNA virus.
- Ugur Sahin, the co-founder of BioNTech said that there is greater possibility present vaccine will work against the mutated strain detected in Britain
- He also affirmed that if needed they can also make vaccine for the mutated version of the virus in six weeks.
By – Rajesh Tripathi
Links:-
https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/simply-put-decoding-the-virus-variant-7114202/
https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/world/biontech-says-can-make-mutation-beating-coronavirus-vaccine-in-six-weeks-6258681.html