Coronavirus mutations pose challenge to vaccine makers
- Studies send mixed messages whether the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine will be able to tackle the variant that emerged in Britain
- New strains of the virus add to challenge of fighting Covid-19
The spread of the variant – identified as B117 – across the globe has raised concerns that current vaccines, which are based on the original strain identified in Wuhan, may not work on mutations.
The emergence of these new strains has spurred scientists into looking at their behaviour and assessing whether they would compromise existing vaccines.
One study conducted by Cambridge and other British universities examined 28 elderly people who have been given the vaccine.
The coronavirus codes its genes with single-stranded ribonucleic acid (RNA), a relatively unstable molecule prone to mutations. Many RNA viruses, such as influenza and HIV, change their genes at a faster rate than vaccine development.
Sars-CoV-2, the virus causing Covid-19, appears to be relatively stable, but there is concern about how long that will last.