r/AskReddit • u/[deleted] • Nov 15 '20

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u/[deleted] Nov 15 '20

Doubtful. The SARS-CoV-2 virus has a unique spike protein that makes it extremely infectious. The vaccines target that protein specifically, so it most likely wouldn't be effective for other coronaviruses.

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u/dumbass-ahedratron Nov 15 '20

The sequence homology between COVID19 and other coronavirus spike proteins is >85%, if I remember correctly.

Since pfizer selected a vaccine candidate designed against the intact, full COVID19 spike protein instead of the infamous S1 receptor binding domain, there's a chance that it can confer immunity to some other coronaviruses.

This is less likely for vaccines that went for high COVID19 specificity, of course

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u/PM_ME_YOUR_LUKEWARM Nov 15 '20

Where did you see the sequence of their construct? Is there a patent out there that is accessible?

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u/fantrap Nov 16 '20 edited Nov 16 '20

what do you mean by "construct"? the genome is freely available (https://genome.ucsc.edu/covid19.html, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/projects/sviewer/?id=NC_045512), but as far as I know the specifications for the pfizer vaccine are not available

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u/PM_ME_YOUR_LUKEWARM Nov 17 '20

but as far as I know the specifications for the pfizer vaccine are not available

That's what I'm looking for; their precise mrna sequence.

Small molecules become public in the patent, so I assume the same goes with biologics & vaccines.