According to many scientists who have studied novel pathogen’s genetic code closely, the coronavirus is now not mutating significantly as it began circulating. As a result, there is hope for a long-lasting vaccine. Read more! 

A lasting coronavirus vaccine is more likely since the virus is mutating slowly, scientists say.

With coronavirus spreading globally in such a quick pace, it seems like there is still hope for long-lasting vaccine creation. The relative stability now suggests the idea that the virus has a high chance of becoming less dangerous as it began circulating. Furthermore, every virus evolves, acquiring all the changes when it replicates inside its hosts’ cell in massive numbers; all before it expands to a bigger population. Besides, some of those mutations can persist through natural selection. 

On the other hand, researchers show that the new coronavirus has proofreading machinery that reduces its “error rate” and the pace of mutation. For now, wherever it’s discovered, the virus looks quite similar. Additionally, scientists reported that there seems to be no evidence that some of these strains became deadlier than others. The SARS-CoV-2, which causes the covid-19, is a coronavirus that came in bats. The first cases of the pandemic were discovered in Wuhan, China this year. 

Peter Thielen, a molecular geneticist resident at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, shared his statement after researching more than 1,000 different samples. “That’s a relatively small number of mutations for having passed through a large number of people. At this point, the mutation rate of the virus would suggest that the vaccine developed for SARS-CoV-2 would be a single vaccine, rather than a new vaccine every year like the flu vaccine.” Moreover, the vaccine would be more like measles or chickenpox type that should confer immunity for quite a long time, according to Thielen. 

When will the vaccine arrive? 

For now, many vaccines for the covid-19 are already in the development stage. However, experts predict that it will take at least a year or 18 months to make it available to the public.