Experts: Virus mutations won’t affect vaccine work

Lab work: A scientist studying antibodies for possible use in a drug at a university’s research centre in Beijing. — Reuters

Beijing: Scientists are now aware that the novel coronavirus is changing its genetic make-up slightly but the rate of mutation is slow and no evidence of a change in the virus biology has been found, meaning these minor mutations will not affect current drug and vaccine development.

However, viruses mutate naturally as part of their life cycle and scientists should pay more attention to mutations that can lead to drug resistance in the long run, Lan Ke, director of the State Key Laboratory of Virology in Wuhan, told China Science Daily, a newspaper run by the Chinese Academy of Sciences.