Additional booster vaccines against the coronavirus will be needed in the future, said leading British scientists studying the virus. Boosters are additional shots that increase or update the effectiveness of previous vaccines. A booster is needed because the coronavirus continues to change or mutate.
Sharon Peacock is responsible for COVID-19 Genomics UK, COG-UK. She said countries must cooperate in the fight against the virus.
“We always needed a booster dose; Immunity The coronavirus doesn’t last forever, “Peacock told Reuters.
She added that scientists have already changed the vaccine to fight the virus. variant As they were found.
Professor Peacock of the University of Cambridge, UK, regular Booster shots will be needed to deal with future variants. However, she said booster doses could be developed and given to people over time.
Peacock founded COG-UK just a year ago with the help of Patrick Vallance, the UK Government’s chief scientific adviser. This group is made up of public health professionals and scientists from several universities in the United Kingdom. It currently holds more information about viral genetics than anywhere else in the world.All over the UK, COG-UK scientists sequence Of the approximately 778,000 genomes worldwide, more than 349,000 viral genomes.
There are three major coronavirus variants identified initially. UK, known as B.1.1.7. Brazil known as P1. And South Africa, known as B.1.351.
Peacock said he was most worried about South African variants.Not only does it spread more easily, but it also has changes in gene mutations that can lower it. Immunity.. The gene mutation is known as E484K.
With 120 million COVID-19 outbreaks worldwide, it is difficult to track all the different variants and names. So she said Peacock’s team is thinking in terms of a “mutant constellation.” The “constellation” in this case means a group of people or things that are somehow similar.
She explained that scientists are thinking “about different combinations of mutations or constellations that are biologically important and can have slightly different biological effects.”
Peacock added that she and other experts had to accept what was wrong with some of their COVID-19 predictions.
“One of the things the virus has taught me is that I can be wrong quite regularly. Humble Faced with a virus that we know very little about, “she said.
“There may be variants we haven’t discovered yet.”
The coronavirus has killed 2.65 million people worldwide since it broke out in China in late 2019.
Other pandemics will occur in the future. Peacock hopes to incorporate what scientists have learned from the coronavirus to prepare for the next global health crisis.
This is Susan Shand.
Reuters reported this story. Susan Shand adapted it to learning English. Ashley Thompson was the editor.
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The words of this story
Mutant –V. tAlters o (gene) to create anomalous properties in plants and animals
ruler – Adjustment It’s happening over and over again at the same time or in the same way
Immunity –N. The power to prevent illness
dose –N. Amount of medicine to take at one time
variant –N. Somehow different from others of the same kind
sequence -v. A group of things coming one after another
Humble – Adjustment I don’t think I’m better than others
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