<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div dir="ltr">In support of this see: <a href="https://theconversation.com/heres-how-scientists-are-tracking-the-genetic-evolution-of-covid-19-134201">https://theconversation.com/heres-how-scientists-are-tracking-the-genetic-evolution-of-covid-19-134201</a></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">“<span style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe WP", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: -0.10000000149011612px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;">Based on current data, it seems as though SARS-CoV-2 mutates much more slowly than the seasonal flu. Specifically, SARS-CoV-2 seems to have a mutation rate of</span><span style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe WP", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: -0.10000000149011612px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"> </span><a href="https://nextstrain.org/ncov?l=clock" data-id="78" data-m="{"i":78,"p":46,"n":"partnerLink","y":24,"o":32}" target="_blank" style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: -0.10000000149011612px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 99, 176); font-family: "Segoe UI Bold", "Segoe WP Bold", "Segoe WP", "Segoe UI", Arial, sans-serif;">less than 25 mutations per year</a><span style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe WP", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: -0.10000000149011612px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;">, whereas the seasonal flu has a mutation rate of</span><span style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe WP", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: -0.10000000149011612px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"> </span><a href="https://nextstrain.org/flu/seasonal/h3n2/ha/2y?l=clock" data-id="79" data-m="{"i":79,"p":46,"n":"partnerLink","y":24,"o":33}" target="_blank" style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: -0.10000000149011612px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 99, 176); font-family: "Segoe UI Bold", "Segoe WP Bold", "Segoe WP", "Segoe UI", Arial, sans-serif;">almost 50 mutations per year</a><span style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe WP", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: -0.10000000149011612px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;">.</span></div><p style="font-size: 16px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 2rem; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.467; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe WP", Arial, sans-serif; letter-spacing: -0.10000000149011612px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;">Given that the SARS-CoV-2 genome is almost twice as large as the seasonal flu genome, it seems as though the seasonal flu mutates roughly four times as fast as SARS-CoV-2. The fact that the seasonal flu mutates so quickly is precisely why it is able to evade our vaccines, so the significantly slower mutation rate of SARS-CoV-2 gives us hope for the potential development of effective long-lasting vaccines against the virus.”</p><div dir="ltr"><blockquote type="cite">On Jan 20, 2021, at 2:12 AM, Rafal Smigrodzki via extropy-chat <extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org> wrote:<br><br></blockquote></div><blockquote type="cite"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><br></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Fri, Jan 15, 2021 at 4:33 AM BillK via extropy-chat <<a href="mailto:extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org">extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><br>
2) If COVID mutates rapidly (as seems to be happening) then there may<br>
need to be an annual vaccination, like the flu jab every winter.<br><br></blockquote><div>### This is highly unlikely, at least not for the reason you mention. The flu has a genetic structure that encourages gene swapping between different strains, thus often creating new and substantially different strains of the virus. Coronaviruses do not have that gene swapping mechanism and the Wuhan virus is only likely to slowly accumulate mutations, mostly point mutations, like other coronaviruses.</div><div><br></div><div>Rafal</div></div></div>
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