All successful viruses mutate over time to become more transmissible and less deadly.
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"Although we don't know yet, it is well within the realm of possibility that this coronavirus, when our population-level immunity gets high enough, this coronavirus will find a way to get around our immunity," Morens said. "If that happened, we'd be in the same situation as with flu. We'll have to chase the virus and, as it mutates, we'll have to tinker with our vaccine."
Peter Thielen, a molecular biologist at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, said scientists will need to continue studying the virus to see whether the new mutations identified by the Houston researchers change the "fitness" of the virus, "and if SARS-CoV-2 transmissibility is truly increased as a result of these mutations."
Another scientist who has studied the coronavirus, Jeremy Luban, a virologist at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, said in an email Wednesday that "the Houston paper highlights the fact that, with respect to SARS-CoV-2, we need to remain vigilant, and increase our capacity to monitor the virus for mutations."
This single mutation isn't really a big deal, and it's unlikely to impact the various vaccine's respective effectiveness.
