Q&A: Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine is coming to San Diego.
The variant, also known as B.1.1.7, has since been spotted in San Diego, and researchers expect it to eventually account for nearly all COVID-19 cases in the county. One of the first variants to fuel fears was detected in the U.K last fall. Others are less vulnerable to antibodies - Y-shaped proteins that can glom onto a virus’s surface and block infection.īut these mutations haven’t rendered vaccines useless. Many of the new variants have mutations that help the virus latch more tightly onto cells before slipping inside them. That’s why it was a matter of time before the coronavirus mutated in ways that made it more infectious. Douglas Richman, a UC San Diego virologist. It’s survival of the fittest, on a microscopic scale. And viral variants with a competitive edge will eventually outnumber less successful strains. But every now and then, a mutation lets a virus spread more easily from cell to cell or person to person. Given enough time, some copies will have a few random errors, or mutations - a bit like how you’re bound to make a few typos after transcribing the same document 20 times.
The emergence of new strains means the coronavirus is doing what all viruses do: mutating.Įach time a virus infects a cell, it copies its genetic material.
