How spike mutations in SARS-CoV-2 variants affect vaccines, therapies: Data Byte

Recent papers suggest that although emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants have only minimally affected vaccine potency so far, vaccine and mAb developers need to take steps now to monitor for and counter escape mutations.

One group of authors showed that culturing pseudoviruses in the presence of mAbs or sera from vaccinated people could induce resistance mutations in the lab before they arise in the population, and give researchers a head start in developing ways to block SARS-CoV-2 escape. ...