WILL THE CURRENT VACCINES CURE ‘D614G’ MUTATION OF COVID-19 WHICH IS 10 TIMES MORE INFECTIOUS? EXPERTS ANSWER!

A new mutation which is ten times more infectious than the normal SARS-CoV-2 was detected in Malaysia, on Sunday. Two new clusters of D614G, a mutation of the virus was detected. This variant was earlier detected in the Europe and US, in February 2020.

A raising concern around the production of a vaccine to fight against this deadly infectious new virus, is that these new mutations might demand a more complex and different vaccine for boosting immunity. Scientists and health related researches are investigating to ensure that these changes in the virus does not make it difficult to develop a vaccine.

“It is normal for a virus to mutate in different countries and even in different areas of one country, as a virus has to adapt to local people's DNA and the local environment,” Yang Zhanqiu, deputy director of the pathogen biology department at Wuhan University, told the Global Times.

“An amino acid change (D614G) outside the RBD was found to be more infectious, but no evidence of being resistant to neutralizing antibodies has been demonstrated,” said the China WHO. Health researchers from Yale noted that the antibodies which are built from D614 and G614 infectious cross neutralise and aids at curing the infection. Similarly, D614 and G614 could work together too.

“The D614G mutation is therefore unlikely to have a major impact on the efficacy of vaccines currently in the pipeline, some of which exclusively target the RBD,” a professor noted.

The World Health Organisation has also added that despite being ten times more infectious, this new mutation is not proven to be more deadly than the others. Hence, it is not a huge cause of concern as SARS-CoV-2 like any other virus is prone to evolve.

Maintaining social distancing protocols, wearing a mask at all times, and adhering to the hygienic practices will help in avoiding the spread of the virus largely.