Share 'What impact do the new variants of the COVID-19 virus have on vaccines?'

All viruses – including SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19 – evolve over time. When a virus replicates or makes copies of itself, it sometimes changes a little bit, which is normal for a virus. These changes are called “mutations”. A virus with one or more new mutations is referred to as a “variant” of the original virus. What causes a virus to change to a new variant? When a virus is wi…