Early mutation made the Coronavirus more contagious.

[elaine567]

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/24/world/covid-mutation.html

"The mutation, known as 614G, was first spotted in eastern China in January and then spread quickly throughout Europe and New York City. Within months, the variant took over much of the world, displacing other variants.

For months, scientists have been fiercely debating why. Researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory argued in May that the variant had probably evolved the ability to infect people more efficiently. Many were skeptical, arguing that the variant may have been simply lucky, appearing more often by chance in large epidemics, like Northern Italy’s, that seeded outbreaks elsewhere.

But a host of new research — including close genetic analysis of outbreaks and lab work with hamsters and human lung tissue — has supported the view that the mutated virus did in fact have a distinct advantage, infecting people more easily than the original variant detected in Wuhan, China."

Interesting.

[schlumpy]

If the Covid virus is like the flu virus in that it can easily mutate in a relatively short period of time how in heck are the vaccine companies promising 90 percent effectiveness? I've received the flu vaccine one year and found out it's effectiveness for that given year was twenty percent because the flu virus had mutated during the vaccine's development.

It's seems like the more you know the more questions there are.

 

[Philosopher]

41 minutes ago, schlumpy said:

If the Covid virus is like the flu virus in that it can easily mutate in a relatively short period of time how in heck are the vaccine companies promising 90 percent effectiveness? I've received the flu vaccine one year and found out it's effectiveness for that given year was twenty percent because the flu virus had mutated during the vaccine's development.

It's seems like the more you know the more questions there are.

 

From what I have read it has not yet mutated enough for the vaccines to stop being effective. 

[elaine567]

14 minutes ago, Philosopher said:

From what I have read it has not yet mutated enough for the vaccines to stop being effective. 

This mutation happened early doors. The vaccines developed will be effective for this variant.
This variant  from June 2020 IS the virus as we know it.

[BC1980]

1 hour ago, schlumpy said:

If the Covid virus is like the flu virus in that it can easily mutate in a relatively short period of time how in heck are the vaccine companies promising 90 percent effectiveness? I've received the flu vaccine one year and found out it's effectiveness for that given year was twenty percent because the flu virus had mutated during the vaccine's development.

It's seems like the more you know the more questions there are.

 

I'd like to know how other coronaviruses mutate. Are they like the flu? The flu shot is the hardest vaccine to make. 

[Lotsgoingon]

The flu is challenging for vaccines because way ahead of time, the scientists have to basically guess which strands are going to be the strongest in the flu season coming up, and that guessing can never be 100 percent correct.

But the flu vaccine still saves thousands and thousands of lives each year.