Photo / APThe good news: Many of the new Covid-19 vaccines are made with new, flexible technology that's easy to upgrade. A woman rolls her sleeve up before getting a Covid-19 vaccine in Bucharest, Romania. When the virus mutates, sometimes the spike protein is changed in key areas so the vaccine-produced antibodies have a harder time recognising it. To update the vaccine, they can simply change the payload: swap out the original genetic code with mRNA for the mutated spike protein. TESTING VACCINES 2.0First-generation Covid-19 vaccines were tested in tens of thousands of people to be sure they work and are safe - research that took many months.

Source: New Zealand Herald February 16, 2021 02:09 UTC