Re:Pfizer vaccine appears effective against mutation in new ...
by mrtesthah on Saturday January 09, 2021 @02:23AM
(#25698313)
> we could react as fast as the different viral strains mutate
The number of mutations is proportional to the number of people currently infected. The faster the virus spreads the more variants will be created. The fact that the N501 variant spreads faster seems to imply that the rate of mutations is already in the process of accelerating.
It may make more sense to use evolutionary modeling and analysis of existing SARS-type viruses to create antigens robust to all expected mutations. Here’s one such bit of research:
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.11.17.387092v2
The number of mutations is proportional to the number of people currently infected. The faster the virus spreads the more variants will be created. The fact that the N501 variant spreads faster seems to imply that the rate of mutations is already in the process of accelerating.
It may make more sense to use evolutionary modeling and analysis of existing SARS-type viruses to create antigens robust to all expected mutations. Here’s one such bit of research: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.11.17.387092v2