Will the vaccines work against coronavirus mutations?

How has COVID19 permanently impacted vaccine development particularly in the wake of talks over various strains of the virus The British Medical Journal BMJ in its March 02 issue said Pfizer and OxfordAstraZeneca were reported to be updating their vaccines to target new variantsDr Wiqar Shaikh Professor of Medicine Grant Medical College and Sir JJ Group of Hospitals said the emergence of several mutational variants of SARSCoV2 the virus that leads to COVID is worrying ldquoWe already have the UK Brazilian and South African variants and a large number of variantinfected people have been detected in India We need to be very aggressive in studying detecting and managing COVID19 variants in our countryrdquo he explainedDr Shaikh said there is an urgent need to assess if the current vaccines provide adequate protection against all novel variants ldquoGlobal Data Healthcare said on March 03 that the COVID19 vaccinersquos effectiveness is negatively affected by variants The WHO opined on the same day that the vaccines that are currently in development or have been approved are expected to provide only some protection against new virus variantsrdquoOther than Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccine BMJ also reported that American firm Moderna is awaiting regulatory approval to start trialling a modified version of its vaccine that will target COVID variants Dr Shaikh said He added ldquoA study published in the journal Cell this month noted that the protection induced by the current Pfizer and Moderna vaccines were less effective against the coronavirus variants first found in South Africa and BrazilrdquoDr Subhash Hira Professor of Global Health at the University of WashingtonSeattle said ldquoThe fundamental principle that applies to all microbes namely viral bacterial rickettsial etc is that during an epidemic new variants of a microbe emerge Its genome sequencing helps identify a lsquovariant of concernrsquo VoC mdash one that leads to a rise in the number of cases or a spike in the number of deaths Such emergence is kept under surveillance all along an epidemic and early evidence warrants a change in national strategy for all protocols mdash from diagnostics to prevention to treatmentrdquoAdded Dr Hira ldquoIn COVID vaccine development nations pursued the 6A framework an approach that accelerates endtoend planning to ensure vaccines are available administrable accessible acceptable affordable and accountable Countries took actions to speed up their efforts such as strengthening vaccine task forces developing a delivery road map and efficient governance and a dependable supplychain model If done correctly vaccine delivery efforts can save lives and restore livelihoods strengthen public trust in governments and allow us to start the lsquonext normalrsquo worldrdquoDr Ketan Vagholkar Professor of Surgery at DY Patil Medical College said ldquoWe are seeing a steep increase in the number of fresh cases despite the vaccination drive being in full swing Citizens need to understand that protection by the vaccine is achieved four to six weeks after the second jab The protective efficacy needs to be tested by evaluating the protective antibody levels in the body Whether the surge in cases is due to the original strain of the virus or is due to variant strains is under evaluation Therefore COVIDappropriate behaviour comprising wearing a mask frequent hand washing and social distancing in public spaces continues to be the mainstay of preventionrdquoGlobal vaccine delivery Mar 22Top three countriesUS ndash 12651 millionChina ndash 7496 million March 20India ndash 4849 millionBottom 3 countriesPoland 503 million March 21Bangladesh 491 millionCanada 41 millionTotal number of vaccination doses administered This is counted as a single dose and may not equal the total number of people vaccinated depending on specific dose regime eg people receive multiple dosesSource Official data collated by OurWorldInData org on March 23