Can COVID vaccines defeat this constantly mutating coronavirus?

Researchers have observed thousands of changes in the genetic data of Sars-CoV-2 that causes the coronavirus disease. Scientists are not surprised by this new discovery.

London has gone into a complete lockdown this holiday season after a new variant of the Covid-19 virus was discovered in the United Kingdom. Prime minister Boris Johnson immediately imposed Tier 4 restrictions to suspend the rapid spread of the virus.

Scientists are not surprised by this new discovery. Researchers have observed thousands of changes in the genetic data of Sars-CoV-2 that causes the coronavirus disease and has been there all around the world since its spread in 2019. The mutations can affect how the virus infects the human cells, how severe the disease can get, how easily the virus spreads and its response to the immune system including to the vaccines.

They believe due to vaccination and response of the human immune system, the survival of the pathogen becomes difficult causing it to evolve which can make it spread easily or go undetected by the immune system. “This thing’s transmitting, it’s acquiring, it’s adapting all the time. But people don’t want to hear what we say, which is: This virus will mutate,” Dr Ravindra Gupta, a University of Cambridge virologist told the New York Times.

“The effectiveness of these vaccines in producing antibodies that can really attack and kill Covid-19 is extraordinary,” he said. “I don’t expect these minor changes at the genetic level … to affect the vaccines’ performance in the near term.” Gupta said.

Source: CNBC