Minimal Mutation in SARS-CoV-2 Suggests Only One COVID-19 Vaccine May Be Sufficient to Combat Global Infections

Genetic analysis of sequences from more than 27,000 individuals infected with SARS-CoV2 has revealed that the novel coronavirus has mutated minimally since December 2019, suggesting that one COVID-19 vaccine may be sufficient to combat global infections.

A team of scientists from the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (Silver Spring, MD, USA) conducted the study that showed minimal SARS-CoV-2 diversity, suggesting a global COVID-19 vaccine to be feasible. In order to characterize SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus diversification since the beginning of the pandemic, the team aligned 18,514 independent virus genome sequences sampled from individuals in 84 countries and scanned them for variations. Their analyses has revealed low estimates of genetic differentiation following the initial outbreak, and indicated that, so far, the SARS-CoV-2 genome has evolved through a mostly random process rather than through adaptation to the human hosts it encounters. Given the low level of genetic variation, a promising COVID-19 vaccine candidate would likely be equally efficacious against all currently circulating strains of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes.

"Viral diversity has challenged vaccine development efforts for other viruses such as HIV, influenza and dengue, but global samples show SARS-CoV-2 to be less diverse than these viruses," said Morgane Rolland, chief of viral genetics and systems serology for the WRAIR Military HIV Research Program. "We can therefore be cautiously optimistic that viral diversity should not be an obstacle for the development of a broadly protective vaccine against COVID-19 infection."

"Scientists are working hard to accelerate the development of a COVID-19 vaccine that is safe and effective for the entire world, now and in the years to come. These data are critical to informing the field's collective efforts in getting a vaccine that is rapidly scalable and universally applicable to all populations," said Dr. Kayvon Modjarrad, director of the institute's Emerging Infectious Diseases Program.

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