Not only do they prevent disease and death, but vaccines against it Covid-19 They can also put a brake on the rapid evolution of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, limiting the number of new mutations, and therefore its variants (strains) that could potentially escape the antibodies. This is the encouraging conclusion of a new small scientific study, the first of its kind, the findings of which will have to be confirmed by larger research.
The researchers, who made the relevant publication in medRxiv, according to Reuters, analyzed genetic samples of the coronavirus from 30 patients with Covid-19 who had not been vaccinated and another 23 vaccinated who, nevertheless, had become infected (which, although rare, can occur). The study focused on the search for genes associated with mutations in the spike protein with which the virus penetrates human cells and which is the main target of vaccines and antibodies produced after vaccination.
The more frequently and extensively this protein is mutated, the less effective the vaccine antibodies become. It was found that, compared to the unvaccinated, those vaccinated who had been infected with the coronavirus had significantly fewer mutations in the spike.
According to the researchers, "the study presents the first known indications that vaccines Covid-19 fundamentally limit the evolutionary and antigenic escape routes of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. "The social benefit of mass vaccination is therefore far greater than reducing the risk of coronavirus infection and transmission to the community, as it also includes reducing the unbridled evolution of the virus."
The more people infected, mainly because they have not been vaccinated, the more chances there are for the coronavirus to mutate, multiply more easily in the body due to lower immune resistance, and be more easily transmitted from person to person due to the higher viral load of non-humans. vaccinated have become infected.
See link for scientific pre-publication HERE
Source: RES-EAP