[국제]Full-fledged development of’improved vaccine’…If endemic disease occurs, vaccines for preventing multiple mutations may be released simultaneously

[앵커]

Already a month or two after the corona19 vaccine started being vaccinated in each country, the’improved vaccine’ development movement is in full swing.

Because of the spread of the mutant virus, the UK government is directly encouraging development.

Reporter Kim Jeong-hoe reports.

[기자]

Currently developed vaccines are vulnerable to mutant viruses.

Some preventive effects have been reported for mutations originating in the UK, but much less for mutations in South Africa.

Data on the Brazilian mutation has not yet been accumulated.

[피터 호테즈 / 영국 베일러 컬리지 교수 : 모더나 백신의 경우 기존 백신에 대한 바이러스 중화 항체가 영국과 남아프리카의 변이 바이러스 모두를 중화시켰지만, 남아프리카 변이 바이러스에 대해선 중화 수준이 6배가량 떨어집니다.]

However, due to the rapid spread of the mutant virus, the outbreak was predicted until March-April, and the development of an improved vaccine as well as the existing vaccination became an urgent task.

Modena and Pfizer came first.

Moderna announced plans to conduct clinical trials to determine the effects of boosting the vaccine currently developed.

I’m going to see how it works if the immune response is boosted.

Pfizer-Bioentech revealed that it could develop an improved vaccine to counter mutations within six weeks, suggesting some progress in the work.

In Britain, the government has rolled up its arms.

We signed a contract with CureVac in Germany to offer a countermeasure vaccine immediately when a new mutant virus is identified, but additional vaccinations against the South African mutant this fall will be the first result.

[맷 행콕 / 영국 보건부 장관 : 영국에 관련 시설을 만들어 영국민을 새로운 변이로부터 보호하고 장기적으로 지켜낼 것입니다.]

However, the problem is that even when a new vaccine is released, the improvement work seems bound to continue.

This is because the virus itself has the characteristic of constantly increasing its propagation power through a change in its shape, and it is more likely that stronger mutations appear to overcome the vaccine effect.

[피터 잉글리쉬 / 영국 질병통제자문위 위원 : 가을에 남아공 변이에 맞는 새 백신이 나올 때 다른 새로운 변이가 나타날 수도 있습니다.]

In the end, like the flu vaccine, you will need an annual vaccination.

In addition, it is predicted that if Corona 19 becomes a disease that is prevalent every year, such as endemic disease, a vaccine that will prevent multiple mutations at once, such as trivalent and quadratic flu vaccines, may be needed.

This is YTN Kim Jeong-hoe.

[저작권자(c) YTN & YTN plus 무단전재 및 재배포 금지]