Scientists say coronavirus is not mutating quickly - Daily Mail

Scientists have provided a ray of hope in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, saying that when a vaccine is eventually available, it would likely provide long-term protection.

Depending on how quickly a virus mutates, some vaccines have to be regularly updated, such a flu vaccines that have to be administered every year.

Other vaccines, such as for measles and chickenpox, provide protection for decades, or even a lifetime, reports the Daily Mail.

On Monday, Peter Thielen, a biologist with the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, said that it appears coronavirus mutates slowly, more like measles and chickenpox than the flu.

"When this virus was first sequenced in China, that information was helpful in starting the process to develop a vaccine," Thielen explained in a statement. 

"Based on the mutation rate, early data indicates that this would likely be a single vaccine rather than one that needs to be updated each year, like the flu shot," he said.

Two other virologists, Stanley Perlman of the University of Iowa and Benjamin Neuman of Texas A&M University at Texarkana, told the Washington Post that the virus appears relatively stable.

'The virus has not mutated to any significant extent," Perlman said.

"Just one 'pretty bad' strain for everybody so far. If it's still around in a year, by that point we might have some diversity," Neuman said.

Studying mutations in the virus can also help scientists determine how long the virus may have gone undetected in an area, and can advise on what measures to put in place, such as the social-distancing efforts.

Experts say that the earliest a vaccine for coronavirus could be widely available is a year to 18 months. 

Although vaccine trials are underway in the U.S., UK and elsewhere, time is needed to prove the shots safe and effective before they are rolled out to millions.