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Virus Mutates All viruses, including the novel coronavirus, or SARS-CoV-2, undergo changes over time. This happens while the virus is replicating, or being transmitted from one person to another. It changes a bit, during the process, which is very normal for any virus. This phenomenon of mutations of the virus causes it to exist in more than one variant. Mutations of any virus in general  Most mutations have little or no effect on the virus’s contagion or its lethality. But this highly depends upon where the changes are located in the genome, and this highly affects a virus’s ability to transmit and cause infections. In the case of Covid-19, major mutations occurred after about 10 months of the first wave of infections. The first versions of the mutation of the virus were seen in the United Kingdom, and then soon after came the variants of South Africa, and then Brazil.

On the other hand, various vaccines being developed in and around the world for Covid-19 were completing their final stage trials and had applied for emergency use authorization according to various laws in different countries. While Pfizer and BioNTech, and Moderna were the first ones to apply for EUAs with an average efficacy of 95%, the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine wasn’t far behind. Now, with vaccinations being done in various countries at a pace never seen before, the news of the major mutations of the virus was bound to leave everyone speechless. The major question arising from every corner of the world was whether the approved vaccines would be able to counter various virus mutations or not.

While there has been no concrete answer to the question, it is very important to note, what various people involved in this field have to say. A survey conducted by People’s Vaccine Alliance reported to CNBC on the 14th March this year that, mutations could rule out the effectiveness of the existing vaccines in about a year. The survey consisted of 77 experts from some of the world’s leading academic institutions spread across 28 countries. The survey showed that only 1 in 8 or even less, believed that mutations would never render the vaccines ineffective. Virus Mutates

The World Health Organization, on its official domain, claims that the vaccines would provide at least some sort of immunogenic response against the various mutations of the virus, and the reason quoted by them is, “because these vaccines elicit a broad immune response involving a range of antibodies and cells. Therefore, changes or mutations in the virus should not make vaccines completely ineffective.” It also goes on to say that, with the efficacy of any of the vaccines decreasing on certain variants, there is always a scope of ‘tweaking the vaccines’ to tackle the strain. Virus Mutates

While the conflicted opinion stays in major parts of the world, the majority of scientists, epidemiologists, and doctors in India are pretty much convinced that it’s highly unlikely that the mutations of Covid-19 would render the current covid vaccines ineffective, especially the one’s used in India. Dr. Randeep Guleria was quoted as saying to NDTV in an interview that, “Vaccines try and induce neutralizing antibodies by acting at multiple sites on the level of spike protein and also induce T-cell immunity in the human body. The vaccine will work despite the mutations that are happening. However, we need to see will this affect the efficacy of the vaccine. I think we need more data for that. And we also need to have a plan in place in case there is a major mutation that may lead to a significant decline in vaccine efficacy; how can we change the vaccine, which can be done, so that we cover for the mutant strain also.” 

While there are various conflicting opinions over the effectiveness of the existing vaccines against various mutant strains of Covid-19, there seems to be little to no data to prove anything yet. While we’ve seen Israel report a dramatic decrease in the number of daily reported cases as soon as it vaccinated over 75% of its population, reports from the UK also show that the number of new cases reported daily was still high for the better part of two months from the date mass vaccinations started in the country, so much so, that the UK had to enforce a second complete lockdown in December 2020 and only started easing some restrictions in February 2021, as it vaccinated 48% of its population. The number of daily reported cases has shrunk but the effectiveness of the vaccines is still unclear on the mutant strains. So, the question remains, will major mutations of Covid-19 or existing variants of the virus, render the existing vaccines ineffective?

Virus Mutates