Already, there are small changes in the virus that have arisen independently multiple times across the world, suggesting the mutations are helpful to the pathogen. “But people don’t want to hear what we say, which is: This virus will mutate.”The new genetic deletion changes the spike protein on the surface of the coronavirus, which it needs to infect human cells. Scientists initially thought the new coronavirus was stable and unlikely to escape vaccine-induced immune response, said Dr. Deepti Gurdasani, a clinical epidemiologist at Queen Mary University of London. The Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines induce an immune response only to the spike protein carried by the coronavirus on its surface. But each infected person produces a large, unique and complex repertoire of antibodies to this protein.

Source: New York Times December 20, 2020 14:37 UTC