How would COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers adapt to the variants?
Adjusting the vaccines, a process that should be easier than getting to the original photos.
Viruses constantly mutate as they spread and most changes are not significant. First-generation COVID-19 vaccines appear to work against current variants, but manufacturers are already taking steps to update their prescriptions if health authorities decide it is necessary.
Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines are made with new technology that is easy to upgrade. So-called mRNA vaccines use a fragment of a genetic code for the ear protein that coats the coronavirus, so your immune system can learn to recognize and fight what’s real.
If a variant occurs with a mutated spike protein that the original vaccine cannot recognize, companies would change this piece of genetic code to get a better match, if and when regulators decide it is necessary.
Upgrading other vaccines against COVID-19 could be more complex. The AstraZeneca vaccine, for example, uses a harmless version of a cold virus to carry this ear protein gene to the body. An upgrade would require the growth of cold virus with the updated ear gene.
The Food and Drug Administration said updated COVID-19 vaccine studies should not be as large or long as for the first generation of shots. Instead, a few hundred volunteers could receive experimental doses of a renewed vaccine and check their blood for signs that boosted the immune system and the original vaccines.
It is more difficult to decide if the virus has transformed enough to modify prey.
Globally, health authorities will monitor coronavirus mutations for vaccine-resistant mutations. They should also decide whether any renewed vaccine should be protected from more than one variant.
In general, the process would be similar to what already happens with the flu vaccine. Influenza viruses mutate much faster than coronaviruses, so influenza vaccines are adjusted every year and must be protected from multiple strains.
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