Can COVID-19 Vaccines Be Updated to Fight the Variants?

The COVID-19 virus has developed troubling mutations as it continues to infect people globally. After a highly transmissible variant was detected in the U.K. last December, both Moderna and Pfizer, the two pharmaceutical companies with approved U.S vaccines, began testing their products against the mutation.

So far, they are still effective. But experts warn, as the virus continues to mutate, it might be able to outsmart the current inoculations.

According to Fast Company, the dilemma might be easily fixed if we are vigilant and screen for variants before they become too virulent. Since both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines use mRNA technology to neutralize the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, immunologists say a simple tweak might solve the problem.

"With an RNA vaccine, it's very easy to switch," said Dr. Drew Weissman, an immunologist at the University of Pennsylvania, who specializes in mRNA technology and vaccine research.

To design the current mRNA vaccines, scientists typed in the genetic code of the virus to help our immune cells identify the invader. To revise the vaccines, researchers would then type in the new genetic code of the dominant variant so our cells would have an updated version of instructions. According to Fast Company, such a revision could be done in around 6 weeks.

Weissman says the only undetermined factor is how the Food and Drug Administration would view the changes in terms of its approval of the vaccine modification. Officials might say these changes would probably not need additional clinical testing, since we currently revise the flu vaccine annually to adjust its effectiveness. On the other hand, regulators might require additional testing.

Weissman says, for right now, the current virus has only a few mutations and the vaccines can still easily target the spike protein. However, the expert warns as the mutations become more pronounced, especially in parts of the world where vaccination is going to be delayed for years, the virus might elude our current vaccinations and even reinfect people, as is happening in Brazil.

The city of Manaus, Brazil, had an extremely rough first wave of the virus last April. Some estimates reported the infection rate of its population soared to 76%, which gave them what is known as herd immunity.

However, according to NPR, the city is now seeing an enormous surge in cases with "much more people becoming infected." The hospitals have run out of oxygen, and patients needing ventilators have literally suffocated in hospital beds.

Last week, scientists detected a new variant of the virus called P1 which has a set of 20 mutations, including 3 that appear worrisome. Experts believe it is this variation that is causing the new surge because it is making the virus more infectious. And the 3 troubling mutations appear to evade the body's antibody response, so people who believe they had immunity from their first infection might be susceptible to a second illness caused by the new variant.

"We know that you can become re-infected even with the same version of the virus," said Ravinda Gupta, of the Cambridge Institute of Therapeutic Immunology and Infectious Disease. "The mutations could put even more of a dent in the barrier of resistance."

Experts in Manaus believe the variant is fueling the current surge.

"Manaus is just a lighthouse that is pointing to what could happen in the rest of the country," said Dr. Marcus Vinicius Lacerda, an infectious disease doctor in the Brazilian city. Experts wonder it is also a beacon to what can happen in the rest of the world, according to NPR.

Weissman says we must step up the pace of our genetic testing of existing variants so we screen dangerous mutations before they cause a similar surge in the U.S. If the mutations render our vaccines ineffective, it is back to the drawing board.

"And then we have to go back a re-immunize the whole world," said Weissman, according to Fast Company.