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 Infectious Diseases Research Center at the Walter Reed Army Research Institute.
“It makes sense that this mutation is not a threat, but you never know. We still have to be diligent and keep looking,” Michael said.
They are doing a computer analysis as a first step.
“Computer analysis will allow us to measure what concern we should have,” Michael said. “Other teams around the world are also doing this analysis.”
If computer analysis shows concern, laboratory and animal studies should be performed to determine more definitively whether the vaccine will work with this variant.
At a press conference on Saturday, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced new holiday closures in areas of England that have seen the new mutation spread.
“There is no evidence to suggest that the vaccine is less effective against the new variant. Our experts will continue their work to improve our understanding as quickly as we can,” Johnson said.
The UK’s top scientific adviser agreed.
“Our working assumption of all scientists right now is that the vaccine response should be appropriate for this virus,” Dr. Patrick Vallance said at the press conference.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has authorized two vaccines, one for Pfizer and the other for Modern. Both work by creating a genetic plan for the peaks that appear on the surface of the new coronavirus. The immune system “sees” the peaks and learns to launch an attack on it.
As with other new variants or strains of Covid-19, this one has a genetic fingerprint that makes it easy to track, and is now commonplace. This does not mean that the mutation has made it spread more easily, nor does it necessarily mean that this variation is more dangerous.
Several experts in virus genetics and epidemiology observe that this could be just one “lucky” strain that has been amplified due to a superspar event; the mutation may somehow make it spread more easily without causing more serious illness; or it could simply be by chance.
Vaccines are still useful because viruses constantly mutate, but usually not in ways that make a vaccine unusable, said Dr. William Schaffner, an adviser to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on vaccines.
“Even with mutations, the virus is essentially the same,” Schaffner said. “It’s like having a person. I can change 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.