Vaccines may need regular updates as coronavirus evolves: Scientists

Berlin:  Scientists have assessed the course of evolution of the novel coronavirus and predicted that COVID-19 vaccines currently in use across the world may need regular updates to counter new variants of the virus which are capable of escaping the body’s protective antibodies.
The study, published in the journal Virus Evolution, assessed whether, over the long term, the SARS-CoV-2 virus is likely to demonstrate an immune evasion capability on par with that of influenza viruses.
In the research, virologists from Charite — Universitatsmedizin Berlin in Germany studied the genetic evolution of the four currently known ‘common cold’ coronaviruses, particularly the two longest-known viruses, 229E and OC43.
They traced changes in the spike protein of the these coronaviruses, which enable them to enter host cells, approximately 40 years into the past.
Based on the analysis, the scientists found one feature which was common to both the coronaviruses and the influenza virus — all three had a pronounced ladder-like shape in their evolutionary paths.
“An asymmetrical tree of this kind likely results from the repeated replacement of one circulating virus variant by another which carried a fitness advantage,” explained the study’s first author, Wendy K. Jo.