Studies on coronavirus ‘good news for vaccine work’

The genetic code of Covid-19 has been relatively slow to mutate during its global spread so a future vaccine could remain effective over a long period, research has suggested.

Two independent studies by teams of infectious diseases scientists helping Italy’s fight against coronavirus have reported they found the fast-proliferating pathogen to be reasonably stable.

The findings will add to a better understanding of the virus and how it spreads — and raise hopes that a future vaccine could have a higher rate of effectiveness against the strain.

The studies were carried out by Lazzaro Spallanzani National Institute for Infectious Diseases in Rome and the forensic division of the department of biomedical sciences and public health at Ancona University Hospital.

Professor Stefano Menzo, head of virology at the hospital, said: “A virus with a stable genome is good news for vaccine development because it indicates that the effectiveness of vaccines could be more consistent, possibly over many years.”

Forty-four vaccines are being evaluated for eventual use against coronavirus and two of them are at the clinical trial stage.

The World Health Organisation has said it could be at least a year before a vaccine is available because it must be safe.

Meanwhile, data collected via the NHS’s 111 telephone service is to be mixed with data from other sources to help predict where ventilators, hospital beds, and medical staff will be most in need.

The goal is to help health chiefs model the consequences of moving resources to best tackle the epidemic.