Study suggests Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine less effective against South African variant

A public health information message in Ealing, west London, one of the UK locations where the South African Covid variant has been detected. (Reuters)
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Updated 03 February 2021
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Study suggests Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine less effective against South African variant

  • Britain and many other countries have begun rolling out the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to try to stem the spread of the pandemic disease
  • When the scientists added all the key mutations found in the B1.1.7 and E484K variants, they found the efficacy of the vaccine was affected

LONDON: The Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine may be less able to protect against infection with a South African variant of the virus that has a worrying mutation, according to results of a British study released on Tuesday.
The preliminary data, which have yet to be peer-reviewed and involve a small number of patients, also suggest a significant proportion of people aged over 80 may not be sufficiently protected against new variants of the virus until they have had two doses of the vaccine, researchers leading the study said.
“Of particular concern ... is the emergence of the E484K mutation (found in the South African variant), which so far has only been seen in a relatively small number of individuals,” said Ravi Gupta, a professor at Cambridge University’s Institute of Therapeutic Immunology & Infectious Disease, who co-led the study.
“Our work suggests the vaccine is likely to be less effective when dealing with this mutation.”
Britain and many other countries have begun rolling out the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to try to stem the spread of the pandemic disease.
While the highly effective vaccine is designed to be given in two doses around three weeks apart, Britain’s government has opted to extend that time gap to up to 12 weeks to try to swiftly reach as many people as possible with a first dose.
The study released on Tuesday used blood samples from 26 people who had received their first dose of the Pfizer vaccine three weeks previously to test whether the shot would protect against two variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus — the UK variant, known as B1.1.7., and the South African variant, which has the E484K mutation.
When testing the blood serum samples, all but seven of the participants had levels of antibodies sufficiently high to neutralize the virus — that is, to protect against infection, the researchers said.
When the scientists added all the key mutations found in B1.1.7 variant, however, they found the efficacy of the vaccine was affected, with, on average, two-fold higher concentrations of antibody required to neutralize the virus.
When the E484K mutation was added, even greater levels of antibody were required for the virus to be neutralized — with an average of a 10-fold increase needed, the researchers said.
Dami Collier, who co-led the work, said the findings suggest “a significant proportion of people aged over 80 may not have developed protective neutralising antibodies against infection three weeks after their first dose of the vaccine.”
Clinical trial data released last week on two other COVID-19 vaccines — from Novavax and Johnson & Johnson — also found the South African coronavirus reduced their ability to protect against the disease.


Kurdish PKK militants to begin handing over arms in Iraq on Friday, NTV says

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Kurdish PKK militants to begin handing over arms in Iraq on Friday, NTV says

ANKARA: Militant fighters of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) will begin handing over weapons in groups in the northern Iraqi city of Sulaymaniyah on Friday as part of a peace process with Turkiye, Turkish broadcaster NTV reported on Tuesday.
The PKK — locked in a bloody conflict with the Turkish state for more than four decades — decided in May to disband and end its struggle, following a public call from the group’s jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan in February.
NTV said, without citing sources, that Ocalan would send a video message to the PKK’s base in northern Iraq’s mountainous Qandil region to call for a mechanism for the disarmament process. It would be the first video featuring his face and voice since his jailing in 1999.
The whole process is expected to take around two to five months, NTV said, adding that militants who hand in weapons will stay in Iraq and halt any PKK activities.
On Monday, a delegation from the pro-Kurdish DEM party — Turkiye’s third-biggest party, which played a key role facilitating the disarmament decision — met with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara to discuss the process.
NTV earlier reported that Ibrahim Kalin, the head of Turkiye’s MIT intelligence agency, would travel to Baghdad on Tuesday for talks with Iraqi officials to discuss the weapons handover.
Since the PKK launched its insurgency against Turkiye in 1984 — originally with the aim of creating an independent Kurdish state — the conflict has killed more than 40,000 people, imposed a huge economic burden and fueled social tensions.
Ankara says skirmishes between Turkish soldiers and PKK militants in southeastern Turkiye and northern Iraq have continued since the group’s decision to disband, adding that Turkiye was still raiding PKK storage areas and bases in the region.

Bangladesh’s garment industry eying GCC growth as exports to Saudi Arabia rise

Updated 7 min 24 sec ago
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Bangladesh’s garment industry eying GCC growth as exports to Saudi Arabia rise

  • Garment exports to the Kingdom surged 7.3% YOY in 2024-25
  • Apparel producers see untapped potential for high-end fashion exports

DHAKA: Bangladesh’s ready-made garment industry is seeing growing demand in Saudi Arabia, industry leaders say, as they look to the Kingdom as a key market for expansion in the Gulf region.

The garment sector is a key driver of the Bangladeshi economy. The country is one of the largest garment exporters in the world, second only to China. The industry accounts for more than 80 percent of Bangladesh’s total foreign sales revenue.

The newest data from the Export Promotion Bureau shows that garment exports to Saudi Arabia were valued at $152 million in the fiscal year 2024–25, up by 7.3 percent year-on-year.

The upward trend reflects growing interest from Saudi buyers in Bangladeshi apparel, particularly items such as T-shirts and jeans, according to Akhter Hossain Apurbo, vice president of the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association.

“We have strong potential for increasing exports to the GCC region, with Saudi Arabia and the UAE being the most significant markets,” he told Arab News.

Major European brands with retail outlets in Saudi Arabia place orders with Bangladeshi producers who deliver products directly to Saudi ports.

“We export to wholesale buyers and later on retailers sell these goods across the region,” Apurbo said. “Mostly Saudi locals are buying these Bangladeshi-made garments.”

Garment exports to Saudi Arabia have been growing consistently over the past few years. In the 2022–23 fiscal year, they were valued at $130 million — a major increase from the $84 million recorded in 2020-21, when production was stalled by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Saudi Arabia is a growing and potential market for our garment exporters as there is a captive market of about 3 million Bangladeshi migrants,” said Mohiuddin Rubel, former director of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association.

“Saudi citizens are also our target customers. Bangladesh makes world-class garment products and Saudis have good taste in clothing and they can afford it ... most of these buyers choose renowned European and American brands.”

Rubel sees significant untapped potential for high-end garment products and local Bangladeshi brands to enter the Saudi market.

“We have to focus on increasing exports to Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern countries, aiming to reduce our dependency on the EU and US markets. It’s the need of the hour,” he said.

“We need to focus on building our own brands (for the Middle Eastern market) besides producing clothes for internationally renowned brands. We have some competitive advantages as the goods will reach their destinations in a shorter time, with lower freight costs ... it will also help us increase product diversity.”


Malian immigrant who rescued families from Paris blaze to be honored for bravery

Updated 14 min 26 sec ago
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Malian immigrant who rescued families from Paris blaze to be honored for bravery

  • Fousseynou Cissé risked his life to help those trapped in a top-floor apartment in Paris

PARIS: A man who saved several people including children and babies from a fire last week in Paris while balancing on a narrow ledge will be decorated for his courage.

Fousseynou Cissé is making headlines in France after risking his life to help those trapped in a top-floor apartment located in a northern district of Paris.

Paris police chief Laurent Nunez said on Monday that he would be awarding Cissé a medal “in recognition of his courage and dedication.”

“This medal recognizes republican courage that commands admiration,” Nunez said.

According to local media, two families were trapped by the fire on Saturday and took refuge in a flat on the top floor. When Cissé realized there was a fire, he decided to leave the building to protect himself, his wife and child.

“As I was leaving, (my neighbor) called me over and told me that there were people trapped upstairs,” he told France Info.

Cissé went to the neighboring apartment, climbed out of the window, and stood on a railing linking the two apartments, 20 meters (65 feet) from the void, in order to evacuate the victims trapped by the toxic fumes.

Cissé then evacuated children who were handed over through a window by their mothers, passing them to the neighbor in an adjacent apartment. He helped the children over the ledge before helping the two mothers reach safety.

“It wasn’t calculated; it was instinct: ‘We’ve got to go’. So I jumped in to help,” he said.

In 2018, French President Emmanuel Macron lauded as a hero a migrant from Mali who scaled an apartment building to save a child dangling from a balcony, and rewarded the young man’s bravery with an offer of French citizenship and a job as a firefighter.

The 39-year-old Cissé reportedly works as a receptionist in secondary schools. He does not have French citizenship but holds a residence permit.

“If you’re not a French national, you won’t get hired,” he said. Asked by France Info what he might wish for as a reward after his heroic gesture, he replied that he hoped “it might loosen things up, and that things would settle down" so that he could be hired by the Paris town hall.


A pacing dog helps Swiss rescuers find a man who fell into a glacier

Updated 23 min 17 sec ago
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A pacing dog helps Swiss rescuers find a man who fell into a glacier

  • AirZermatt spokesman Bruno Kalbermatten said "imagine if the dog wasn't there, I have no idea what would have happened to this guy"

GENEVA: Rescuers on Tuesday hailed as a “four-legged hero” a furry Chihuahua whose pacing atop an Alpine rock helped a helicopter crew find its owner, who had fallen into a crevasse on a Swiss glacier nearby.
The man, who was not identified, was exploring the Fee Glacier in southern Switzerland on Friday when he broke through a snow bridge and fell nearly 8 meters (about 26 feet), according to AirZermatt, a rescue, training and transport company.
Equipped with a walkie-talkie, the man connected with a person nearby who relayed the accident to emergency services. But the exact location was unknown. After about a half-hour search, the pacing pooch caught the eye of a rescue team member.
As the crew zeroed on the Chihuahua, the hole the man fell into became more visible. Rescuers rappelled down, rescued the man and flew him and his canine companion to a hospital.
“Imagine if the dog wasn’t there,” AirZermatt spokesman Bruno Kalbermatten said by phone. “I have no idea what would happen to this guy. I think he wouldn’t survive this fall into the crevasse.”
On its website, the company was effusive: “The dog is a four-legged hero who may have saved his master’s life in a life-threatening situation.”


Indian villagers beat five to death for ‘witchcraft’

Updated 08 July 2025
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Indian villagers beat five to death for ‘witchcraft’

  • Despite campaigns against superstition, belief in witchcraft remains widespread in rural areas across India, especially in isolated tribal communities
  • Women have often been branded witches and targeted

NEW DELHI: Indian villagers beat a family of five to death and dumped their corpses in a lake accusing them of “practicing witchcraft” after the death of a boy, police said Tuesday.
Three people have been arrested and have confessed to the crime, police in the northern state of Bihar said in a statement.
Three women — including a 75-year-old — were among those murdered.
The main accused believed that his son’s recent death was caused by one of those killed, and blamed “him and his family of practicing witchcraft,” the statement said.
“After beating the victims to death, the perpetrators loaded the bodies onto a tractor and dumped them in a pond,” police said.
The murderers and victims all belonged to India’s Oraon tribe in Bihar, India’s poorest state and a mainly Hindu region of at least 130 million people.
Despite campaigns against superstition, belief in witchcraft remains widespread in rural areas across India, especially in isolated tribal communities.
Some states, including Bihar, have introduced laws to try to curb crimes against people accused of witchcraft and superstition.
Women have often been branded witches and targeted, but the killing of the family of five stands out as a particularly heinous recent example.
More than 1,500 people — the overwhelming majority of them women — were killed in India on suspicion of witchcraft between 2010 and 2021, according to the National Crime Records Bureau.
Some believe in the occult, but attackers also sometimes have other motives including usurping their rights over land and property.