NEW YORK: In spite of causing a surge in infections that has resulted in thousands of hospitalizations and deaths, the Delta variant of Covid-19 is not particularly good at evading the antibodies generated by the Pfizer vaccine, according to a study.

The researchers at Washington University tested the antibodies against 4 variants of concern: alpha, beta, gamma and delta. 12 of the 13 recognized alpha and delta, eight recognized all four variants, and one failed to recognize any of the four variants. The findings, published in the journal Immunity, help explain why vaccinated people have largely escaped the worst of the delta surge.

Researchers in the US extracted antibody-producing cells from three people who had received the Pfizer vaccine. They grew the cells in the laboratory and obtained from them a set of 13 antibodies that target the original strain that began circulating last year. Five of the 13 antibodies neutralized the original strain. When the team tested the neutralizing antibodies against the new variants, all five antibodies neutralized delta, three neutralized alpha and delta, and only one neutralized all four variants.

"The fact that delta has outcompeted other variants does not mean that it's more resistant to our antibodies compared to other variants," said Jacco Boon, Associate Professor of medicine, of molecular microbiology and of pathology and immunology at the University's School of Medicine in St. Louis.

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