While there is always a concern that a vaccine will not work if a virus mutates significantly, the Walter Reed scientists still expect the vaccine to be effective against this new variant, said Dr. Nelson Michael, director of the Center for Infectious Diseases. Research at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research.
It goes without saying that this mutation is not a threat, but you never know. We still have to be diligent and keep looking, ”Michael said.
They do a computer analysis as the first step.
“Thanks to the computer analysis, we can estimate how much concern we should have,” said Michael. “Other teams around the world are also doing this analysis.”
If the computer analysis shows that there is a problem, then studies should be done in the laboratory and in animals to definitively determine whether the vaccine will work with this variant.
At a press conference Saturday, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced new holiday lockdowns in parts of England that have seen the spread of the new mutation.
“There is no indication that the vaccine will be less effective against the new variant. Our experts will continue their work to improve our understanding as soon as possible,” Johnson said.
The UK’s chief scientific advisor agreed.
“Our current assumption by all scientists is that the vaccine response must be sufficient for this virus,” said Dr. Patrick Vallance at the press conference.
The US Food and Drug Administration has approved two vaccines, one by Pfizer and the other by Moderna. Both work by creating a genetic blueprint for the spikes that appear on the surface of the new coronavirus. The immune system ‘sees’ the spikes and learns to attack them.
As with other new variants or strains of Covid-19, this one has a genetic fingerprint that makes it easy to track, and it’s one that’s now common. That does not mean that the mutation has spread it more easily, nor does it necessarily mean that this variation is more dangerous.
Multiple experts in virus genetics and epidemiology note that this strain may simply be a “lucky” strain amplified due to a superspreader event; the mutation may somehow make it easier without causing more serious disease; or it could just be by chance.
The vaccines are still useful because viruses are constantly mutating, but usually not in a way that would render a vaccine useless, said Dr. William Schaffner, an adviser to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on vaccines.
“Even with mutations, the virus remains essentially the same,” said Schaffner. ‘It’s just like a person. I can swap my brown coat for a gray coat, but I’m still Bill Schaffner. I’ve changed something, but I’m still the same person. ‘
CNN’s Sam Romano contributed to this story.