The past year has shown us what people can achieve in what appears to be a relatively short period of time. The new COVID-19 vaccines were introduced in the peak period, but now there is a new risk of concussion – new strains of the virus have appeared in at least 31 countries around the world. -world.
On January 10, 2020, Chinese scientists uploaded the genetic sequence of a novel coronavirus, later named SARS-CoV-2 and commonly known as COVID-19, to an open access website.
Scientists around the world began to look at its structure, how it enters human cells, how to handle its side effects and, more importantly, how to create a vaccine against it.
How it works
Vaccines traditionally work by showing our immune systems something “foreign” such as a virus or bacteria that we may encounter in the community at a later date.
The aim is to train our immune systems to recognize these viruses or bacteria as “other” and to create immune cells against them that reactivate when we encounter them in real life, killing them before they will have a chance to make us sick.
Older vaccines have used weak viruses (measles, mumps, rubella) or deadly viruses (polio or hepatitis A) to start this response.
Newer vaccines are made up of key components of the viruses or bacteria that stimulate an immune response (meningitis C and HPV).
Some of the latest vaccines, including the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, use mRNA technology (or messenger RNA – a single-layer molecule of RNA that matches a genetic sequence). This leads a person’s cells to make a viral protein vaccine that stimulates the immune response.
The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine uses a genetically modified version of the virus that causes the common cold in chimpanzees but is harmless in humans. The modified virus contains a genetic material that in turn programs cells to produce proteins, which the body recognizes as foreign and suppresses a similar immune response.
New settlement
When the Pfizer and Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines were approved for widespread use in the UK, and with the Moderna vaccine being approved in the US, there was a sense of relief from the medical community. After months of fighting this new disease, the massive damage done to the world economy and, more importantly, the deaths caused by the coronavirus, we now had hope: vaccines that working.
But in December 2020, news in the UK broke that seemed to dampen this new hope.
A new strain of coronavirus – called B117 – has been identified in the South East of the country: one that is up to 70 per cent more contagious than the one it contracted.
The new variant does not appear to cause more severe illness in those infected with it, but it has been attributed to an increase in coronavirus cases in the UK, along with the views of ambulances being queuing outside overcrowded hospitals and seeking help from National Tired. Health Service (NHS) Staff.
To make matters worse, the new pressure is spreading. Since December, it has been celebrated in many other countries as well, and other new series have been discovered in South Africa and Nigeria.
To date, there has been no definitive answer as to whether the new vaccines will be fully effective against these new strains. However, the consensus so far is that it may be.
Top UK medical officials have said there is no reason to believe the new vaccines will not work against the new versions of the virus. Dr Ugur Sahin, chief executive of BioNTech, told the Financial Times in London that he believes the pharmaceutical group COVID-19 vaccine, developed by Pfizer, will remain effective against the new variable.
Overall, vaccines have been very effective against viruses and their variants in the past. For example, the smallpox virus was eradicated as it did not cover the smallpox vaccine and, to this day, the outbreak of measles virus has never been possible. the immunity induced by the measles vaccine.
However, not all vaccines are bulletproof. Some diseases, including HIV / AIDS and malaria, have been avoided by vaccines while the organisms that cause these diseases grow so rapidly.
How mutations rise
New strains of virus arise as a result of mutations in the original virus. Variations occur at random changes in the genetic make-up of a virus that usually occur due to errors during the reproduction process.
The longer a virus is able to reproduce within a host, the greater the chance of error or mutation. Of the 17 mutations identified in the new UK version, eight affect the virus’s spike proteins. The spike protein is the key by which the virus opens the doors to our human cells and enters them, causing them to become infected.
One of these mutations is considered to be particularly important – the N501Y modification. This is thought to help the virus become more infectious (able to establish disease) and enter human cells more easily.
Large portions of the spike protein remain unchanged in the new version, however. The immune response stimulated to action by the new coronavirus vaccines stimulates immune cells that attack different parts of the spike protein simultaneously, including the parts that remain unchanged.
So while one part of the virus can be mutated and escaped, if our immune system is attacking many sites at once, it would have to escape from the virus. -our immune system completely happening at the same time, which would be very unlikely. For this reason, the new vaccines are still considered effective.
Will the vaccines still work?
Scientists are, therefore, optimistic that the new COVID-19 vaccines will work against new strains, and confirm that work in this area is ongoing.
The time is now essential. The longer the coronavirus can suddenly run through populations, the more likely it is that further mutations will occur unless the pandemic comes under appropriate control by governments around the world.
It is very likely that, in the future, we will see mutations that alter the virus’ s spike protein significantly causing our immune system to stop “recognizing” them, thus reducing the effectiveness of routine vaccines.
One key advantage of the new mRNA technology in vaccines is that it can be reasonably easily modified to mimic new mutations that may occur in the future. Dr Sahin, chief executive of BioNTech, has even gone so far as to say that the company could make a new vaccine in six weeks if needed.
Such “tweaking” vaccines to new varieties is not a new idea. Flu viruses are constantly changing and, although not using the same technology, the shape of the flu vaccine is reviewed annually and updated as necessary based on what new types of flu are likely to make people sick that year. That’s why those who need the flu vaccine need a new shot every year.
The priority – getting the pandemic under control
Although the new variant of the coronavirus has not yet hit our vaccines, if governments do not work to control the routine events, COVID-19 will have the opportunity to go around again and -again, increasing the chances of an “escape” mutation will require a vaccine “tweak”.
This is now a global effort; it is not good if a handful of the richest countries are vaccinating their numbers and giving themselves some respite because the virus can find breeding places in less affluent countries and could spread around there, just to reassure those who have been vaccinated.
We need to think together and now, more than ever, we need leaders to lead us out of this global pandemic.