UK Variant Of COVID-19 Mutates Again; Will The Current Vaccines Still Work? Read Here

New Delhi: The UK variant of deadly novel coronavirus has mutated again. Scientists have observed new genetic changes in the COVID-19 variant, already said to be more contagious and possibly more deadly, a report in BBC News quoted scientists as saying.

BBC quoted experts as saying that while the mutation may affect vaccine effectiveness, the current ones in use should still work

The mutation called E484K has already been seen in the South Africa and Brazil variants of the COVID-19 virus. Experts have only found a handful of cases of the UK variant with the E484K mutation, the report said. It does not mean that this mutation is present in all versions of this variant.

According to experts, it is common for viruses to mutate. As new copies of themselves, viruses mutate to spread and thrive, the report added.

If the mutated versions of Covid-19 continue to spread across the globe, they could merge to make a new version of the virus, Dr. Julian Tang, a virus expert at the University of Leicester told BBC.

Will the current vaccines work in such a scenario?

According to early results from Modera, its vaccine is still effective against variants with this mutation, although the immune response may not be as strong or prolonged. Covaxin has a similar outcome.

Even in the worst-case scenario, vaccines can be redesigned and tweaked to be a better match in a matter of weeks or months, if necessary, experts were quoted as saying.