Expert: Regular Booster Vaccines Are the Future with COVID-19

Additional booster vaccines² against the coronavirus will be needed in the future, said a leading British scientist who is studying the virus. A booster is an extra shot that increases or renews the effect of an earlier vaccine¹. Boosters will be needed because the coronavirus continues to change, or mutate.

Sharon Peacock is the head of COVID-19 Genomics UK, COG-UK. She said countries must work together in their fight against the virus.

"We were always going to have to have booster doses; immunity³ to coronavirus doesn't last forever," Peacock told Reuters.

She added that scientists were already changing the vaccine to fight virus variants⁵ as they are found.

Peacock, a professor at Britain's Cambridge University, said she was sure that regular booster shots would be needed to deal with future variants. However, she said that the booster doses could be developed and given to people over time.

Peacock set up COG-UK exactly a year ago with the help of the British government's chief scientific adviser⁶, Patrick Vallance. The group is made up of public health experts and scientists from several British universities. It now holds more information about the virus's genetics than anywhere else in the world. At places across Britain, COG-UK scientists have sequenced over 349,000 genomes of the virus out of a worldwide effort of about 778,000 genomes.

There are three main coronavirus variants, which were first identified: Britain, known as B.1.1.7; Brazil, known as P1; and South Africa, known as B.1.351.

Peacock said she is most worried about the South Africa variant⁴. Not only does it spread more easily, but it also has a change in a gene⁷ mutation⁸ that can lower immunity. That gene mutation is known as E484K.

With 120 million cases of COVID-19 around the world, it is getting hard to keep track of all the different variants and names. So, Peacock's teams are thinking in terms of "constellations¹⁰ of mutations," she said. "Constellation⁹" in this case means a group of people or things that are similar in some way.

She explained that scientists are thinking "about what mutations or constellation of mutations are going to be important biologically and different combinations that may have slightly different biological effects."

Peacock added that she and other experts have had to accept they will be wrong about some of their COVID-19 predictions.

"One of the things that the virus has taught me is that I can be wrong quite regularly - I have to be quite humble¹¹ in the face of the virus that we know very little about still," she said.

"There may be a variant out there that we haven't even discovered yet."

The coronavirus has killed 2.65 million people worldwide since it began in late 2019.

There will be other pandemics in the future. Peacock hopes that scientists will take what they have learned from the coronavirus and be better prepared for the next worldwide health crisis.

Words in This Story

mutate – v. to cause (a gene) to change and create an unusual characteristic in a plant or animal

regular – adj. happening over and over again at the same time or in the same way

immunity – n. the power to keep yourself from being affected¹² by a disease

dose – n. the amount of medication to be taken at one time

variant – n. different in some way from others of the same kind

sequence – v. a group of things that come one after the other

humble – adj. not thinking of yourself as better than others

1 vaccine   

n.牛痘苗，疫苗；adj.牛痘的，疫苗的

参考例句：

• The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives.脊髓灰质炎疫苗挽救了数以百万计的生命。
• She takes a vaccine against influenza every fall.她每年秋季接种流感疫苗。

2 vaccines   

疫苗，痘苗( vaccine的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His team are at the forefront of scientific research into vaccines. 他的小组处于疫苗科研的最前沿。
• The vaccines were kept cool in refrigerators. 疫苗放在冰箱中冷藏。

3 immunity   

n.优惠；免除；豁免，豁免权

参考例句：

• The law gives public schools immunity from taxation.法律免除公立学校的纳税义务。
• He claims diplomatic immunity to avoid being arrested.他要求外交豁免以便避免被捕。

4 variant   

adj.不同的，变异的；n.变体，异体

参考例句：

• We give professional suggestions according to variant tanning stages for each customer.我们针对每位顾客不同的日晒阶段，提供强度适合的晒黑建议。
• In a variant of this approach,the tests are data- driven.这个方法的一个变种，是数据驱动的测试。

5 variants   

n.变体( variant的名词复数 )；变种；变型；（词等的）变体

参考例句：

• Those variants will be preserved in the'struggle for existence". 这些变异将在“生存竞争”中被保留下来。 来自辞典例句
• Like organisms, viruses have variants, generally called strains. 与其他生物一样，病毒也有变种，一般称之为株系。 来自辞典例句

6 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

7 gene   

n.遗传因子，基因

参考例句：

• A single gene may have many effects.单一基因可能具有很多种效应。
• The targeting of gene therapy has been paid close attention.其中基因治疗的靶向性是值得密切关注的问题之一。

8 mutation   

n.变化，变异，转变

参考例句：

• People who have this mutation need less sleep than others.有这种突变的人需要的睡眠比其他人少。
• So far the discussion has centered entirely around mutation in the strict sense.到目前为止，严格来讲，讨论完全集中于围绕突变问题上。

9 constellation   

n.星座n.灿烂的一群

参考例句：

• A constellation is a pattern of stars as seen from the earth. 一个星座只是从地球上看到的某些恒星的一种样子。
• The Big Dipper is not by itself a constellation. 北斗七星本身不是一个星座。

10 constellations   

n.星座( constellation的名词复数 )；一群杰出人物；一系列（相关的想法、事物）；一群（相关的人）

参考例句：

• The map of the heavens showed all the northern constellations. 这份天体图标明了北半部所有的星座。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• His time was coming, he would move in the constellations of power. 他时来运转，要进入权力中心了。 来自教父部分

11 humble   

adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低

参考例句：

• In my humble opinion,he will win the election.依我拙见，他将在选举中获胜。
• Defeat and failure make people humble.挫折与失败会使人谦卑。

12 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。