Filenews 15 March 2021
Immunity from the coronavirus vaccine will not last forever as mutations make the virus more contagious and help it escape people's immune systems.
This is the assessment of the head of the British genetic surveillance programme, as reported by the Athens News Agency.
According to Sharon Peacock, the new coronavirus, responsible for the deaths of 2.65 million people worldwide since late 2019 when it first appeared, mutates every two weeks or so, more slowly than the flu virus or HIV, but enough to require some modifications to vaccines.
Sharon Peacock, head of COVID-19 Genomics UK (COG-UK), which has mapped the genome sequencing of half the variants of the coronavirus that have appeared worldwide, said international cooperation in this "cat-and-mouse" battle against the virus was essential.
"We need to realize that we will always have repeat vaccines, immunity to the crown virus does not last forever," Peacock said, speaking to Reuters.
She said regular repeat doses of vaccines would be necessary to treat future variant strains of coronavirus, as is the case with influenza vaccines, but stressed that the speed in vaccine innovation means that these will develop and be made available quickly.
Source: iefimerida.gr
