Scientists seek to develop all-in one-vaccine as COVID-19 mutations spread rapidly

With new variants of COVID-19 emerging every other week, researchers are now shifting their focus on the development of ‘all-in-one’ vaccine shots that would resolve the threat of fast-spreading mutations. As of now, new variants of SARS-CoV-2 have been discovered in the UK, Brazil, Africa and Japan, but experts have pointed out that there might be other mutations hidden from the human eye. To tackle the same, scientists are now focusing on shots capable of targeting and neutralizing multiple versions of the lethal pathogen.

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First detected in Wuhan of China’s Hubei province the lethal respiratory disease has now spread across the globe killing 2,395,405 and infecting 108,778,067 people till now. Pone particular mutation of the virus from South Africa, named B.1.351. has already shown resistance to vaccine jabs developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford. Meanwhile, other developers- Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson have announced that they're starting work on developing booster shots or other efforts to bolster their vaccines.

As mutations continue to blunt the optimism, the British government announced its collaboration with CureVac NV to develop shots that would tackle novel COVID variants. The joint programme focuses on using Artificial Intelligence(AI) to predict future mutations with messenger RNA technology that can rapidly generate new vaccines. Meanwhile, the European Union nations have questioned the bloc for its strategy on mutants urging it to ensure contracts for booster shots with vaccine manufacturers, Bloomberg reported.

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All the current vaccines induce the immune system to produce antibodies that recognize and target the spike protein on the virus, which is essential for invading human cells. A single change in the spike protein – which is the region of the virus that attaches to human cells – is probably not going to be a big threat as the medical community rolls out the vaccines.However, scientists have observed the accumulation of multiple changes in the spike protein in the South African variant, making it resistant.