Dozens of Americans are rolling up their sleeves for a third dose of COVID-19 vaccine -- this time, shots tweaked to guard against a worrisome mutated version of the virus.
Make no mistake: The vaccines currently being rolled out across the
“We need to be ahead of the virus,” said Dr.
It's not clear if or when protection would wane enough to require an update but, "realistically we want to turn COVID into a sniffle,” she added.
Viruses constantly evolve, and the world is in a race to vaccinate millions and tamp down the coronavirus before even more mutants emerge. More than 119 million Americans have had at least one vaccine dose, and 22% of the population is fully vaccinated, according to the
Already an easier-to-spread version found in
But globally, there's concern that first-generation vaccines may offer less protection against a different variant that first emerged in
In suburban
“The earlier one, it was a great success and, you know, millions of people are getting vaccinated now,” Smith told The Associated Press. “If we’re helping people with the old one, why not volunteer and help people with the new one?”
The study, funded by the
They want to know: Could people be vaccinated just with two doses of the variant vaccine and not the original? Or one dose of each kind? Or even get the original and the variant dose combined into the same injection?
Separately, the
The
Mutations occur whenever any virus makes copies of itself. Usually those mistakes make no difference. But if a lot of changes pile up in the spike protein -- or those changes are in especially key locations -- the mutant might escape an immune system primed to watch for an intruder that looks a bit different.
The good news: It’s fairly easy to update the
Studies getting underway this month include a few hundred people, very different than the massive testing needed to prove the original shots work. Scientists must make sure the mRNA substitution doesn’t trigger different side effects.
On the protection side, they’re closely measuring if the updated vaccine prompts the immune system to produce antibodies — which fend off infection — as robustly as the original shots do. Importantly, lab tests also can show if those antibodies recognize not just the variant from
Some good news: Antibodies aren't the only defense.
Still, no vaccine is 100% effective — even without the mutation threat, occasionally the fully vaccinated will get COVID-19. So how would authorities know an update is needed? A red flag would be a jump in hospitalizations — not just positive tests — among vaccinated people who harbor a new mutant.
“That’s when you’ve crossed the line. That’s when you’re talking about a second-generation vaccine,” said Dr.
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