Follow up to:
Viral mutations regularly occur with seasonal flu, that reality hasn't impeded big pharma from pushing nearly useless vaccines year after year. Profitable, yes. Effective? Questionable. Highly questionable.
No lock downs because there was a vaccine. An ineffective vaccine, clearly. The latest:
Scientists Discover “Significant” Coronavirus Mutation Suggesting Threat to Availability of Vaccines
A team of researchers from universities in Taiwan and Australia has found the first evidence of what they called “significant” mutation of the COVID-19 virus.The finding casts significant doubt on what would come out of the ongoing efforts to develop a vaccine against the virus.
In the research, scientists found that the newly-discovered mutation results in “weaker receptor binding capability.”
The team comprised researchers from Taiwan’s National Changhua University of Education and Australia’s Murdoch University. The study, which was yet to be peer-reviewed, appeared on biorxiv.org.
“The discrepant phylogenies for the spike protein and its receptor binding domain proved a previously reported structural rearrangement prior to the emergence of SARS-CoV-2,” the study authors wrote.
They said this was the first evidence of a “significant” mutation of the SARS-CoV-2.
Major mutation
The research team studied a strain of the COVID-19 virus they isolated from a sample collected in India in January.
In their analysis, they found a mutation that made the pathogen less capable of binding to a receptor on human cells.
Is this suggesting that the virus is becoming less capable of causing infection?
Specifically, the mutation led to weaker binding capability to the ACE2 receptor. ACE2 is an enzyme present in the lungs of humans.
This finding is worrying. It suggests that the ongoing search for a vaccine may become “futile.” According to the researchers, this is especially so if more mutations are detected
The New York Post quoted Jenna Macciochi, an immunology lecturer at the University of Sussex, saying that the reduced receptor binding capacity might indicate the virus being less able to infect humans.
As I'd suspected. It seemed obvious the weaker binding capabilities would align with less infectious virus
An Italian study released weeks before this particular study showed that the coronavirus mutates rather slowly. This was after researchers studied its genetic material.
The evidence suggests that any cure could at least help a large number of people before it may need to be updated.