What to expect from vaccines and the covid-19 variant?
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(CNN) -
Scientists at the Walter Reed U.S. Army Research Institute hope to know in the next few days if coronavirus vaccines may not work against a mutated variant of the virus that is spreading rapidly in parts of England. according to the institute's chief vaccine researcher.
While there is always concern that a vaccine will not work if a virus mutates significantly, Walter Reed scientists still hope the vaccine will be effective against this new variant, said Dr. Nelson Michael, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research. at the Walter Reed Army Research Institute.
This is what we know about the new variant of covid-19
“The logical thing is that this mutation is not a threat, but you never know.
We still have to be diligent and keep checking, ”Michael said.
On Thursday, Walter Reed's team began examining the genetic sequences of the new UK variant published online by British researchers.
They are doing a computer scan as the first step.
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"Computer analysis will allow us to define 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 concern, then laboratory and animal studies should be done to determine more definitively if the vaccine will work on this variant.
At a press conference on Saturday, Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced new closures over the holidays in parts of England that have seen the new mutation spread.
'There is no evidence to suggest that the vaccine will be less effective against the new variant.
Our experts will continue their work to improve our understanding as quickly as possible, ”Johnson said.
These are the countries of America and the world that have so far suspended trips from the United Kingdom due to a new variant of covid-19
The UK's chief scientific adviser agreed.
"The assumption that all scientists are working with at the moment is that the vaccine response must be adequate for this virus," Dr. Patrick Vallance said at the press conference.
The US Food and Drug Administration has licensed two vaccines, one from Pfizer and the other from Moderna.
Both work by creating a genetic model for the spikes that appear on the surface of the new coronavirus.
The immune system "sees" the spikes and learns to launch an attack against them.
As with other variants or new strains of covid-19, this one carries a genetic fingerprint that makes it easy to track and it turns out that it is now common.
That does not mean that the mutation made it spread more easily, nor does it necessarily mean that this variation is more dangerous.
Multiple experts in virus genetics and epidemiology point out that this could simply be a "lucky" strain that has been amplified due to a superpropagation event;
it could be the mutation that somehow makes it spread more easily without causing more serious disease;
or it could be by chance.
In August, Walter Reed's team published a study showing that vaccines still worked against several other coronavirus mutations.
Vaccines are still useful because viruses constantly mutate, but usually not in a way that renders a vaccine useless, said Dr. William Schaffner, a vaccine adviser for the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"Even with mutations, the virus essentially stays the same," Schaffner said.
It's like with a person.
I can trade my brown coat for a gray coat, but I'm still Bill Schaffner.
I have changed something, but I am still the same person.
CNN's Sam Romano contributed to this story.
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