The coronavirus isn't mutating quickly, suggesting a vaccine would offer lasting protection

[RandySF]

The coronavirus is not mutating significantly as it circulates through the human population, according to scientists who are closely studying the novel pathogen’s genetic code. That relative stability suggests the virus is less likely to become more or less dangerous as it spreads, and represents encouraging news for researchers hoping to create a long-lasting vaccine.

All viruses evolve over time, accumulating mutations as they replicate imperfectly inside a host’s cells in tremendous numbers and then spread through a population, with some of those mutations persisting through natural selection. The new coronavirus has proofreading machinery, however, and that reduces the “error rate” and the pace of mutation. It looks pretty much the same everywhere it has appeared, the scientists say, and there is no evidence that some strains are deadlier than others.

SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the disease covid-19, is similar to coronaviruses that circulate naturally in bats. It jumped into the human species last year in Wuhan, China, probably through an intermediate species — possibly a pangolin, an endangered anteater whose scales are trafficked for traditional medicine.



https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/the-coronavirus-isnt-mutating-quickly-suggesting-a-vaccine-would-offer-lasting-protection/2020/03/24/406522d6-6dfd-11ea-b148-e4ce3fbd85b5_story.html

[Dorian Gray]

1. I really really really wish they could fasttrack a vaccine

NYC here. I know they have to do trials and wait. But it's tough thinking we may have to live like this for months and months.

[Igel]

2. They can fast track a vaccine.

But it depends how things go early. If testing results are good and show no downside, typically they don't wait to cross the ts and dot the is. They continue with the t-crossing and i-dotting, and monitor the results even more closely (since there's a much larger population to work with), but approval's granted.

First, do no harm. And if they said, "Sure, we could maybe have it available in 6 months" and then things go wrong people get upset. It's like they had something (that they didn't have) and it was yanked away from them. You don't resent not getting something you never had to nearly the same extent.