Thread by @thetimes

We will need 100 days.

From the moment a decision is taken that a tweaked vaccine is necessary, that is how long the chief executive of Pfizer has said it will take for the first regulatory-approved vaccine tailored to the new variant. thetimes.co.uk/article/how-lo…

And that decision, writes science editor @whippletom, is now looking more likely than ever.

Of all the mutations in the variant discovered in South Africa, it is the ones that threaten immunity that worry government scientists the most.

There are many, many unknowns. This could yet prove to be nothing more than the pandemic’s final scare.

But if there is a possibility this variant can find a chink in the immune armour built up at such cost, we now have a way to get ahead of it.

Some things cannot be rushed, though. It takes time to culture a virus, and South African laboratories will need at least a week to make enough to share with foreign partners.

It’s possible that South Africa has already sent some unwittingly, kept incubated in a passenger on a long-haul flight.

If so, we might just get some a little sooner.

When we do, it will go to the laboratory at Porton Down. Here, it will be tested against blood from vaccinated people.

How will the blood respond? How will the antibodies bind?

thetimes.co.uk/article/how-lo…

Pfizer worked on a vaccine specific to the Delta variant, then decided it was not necessary — the original vaccine was good enough.

But if the immunity evasion of Nu is as big as some fear, this time the decision might be different.

Day 0⃣

We already know the genetic code of the virus — all we have to do is tweak it out and a lab will have made a prototype vaccine.

But this is only the beginning. The challenge is not making one but making a billion, and getting it approved. We will be racing against time.

Day 3⃣3⃣

The variant may undermine the vaccines but it does nothing to blunt the effectiveness of antivirals.

As, inevitably, a winter wave grows, the two drugs the UK has bought could be critical in keeping people out of hospital.

Day 6⃣6⃣

Normally, there is a process. You invent a vaccine, you trial the vaccine, then you make it. The same will happen with variant vaccines.

“Using an existing “platform” for a new vaccine would speed the regulatory process dramatically.”

Day 1⃣0⃣0⃣

Spring is here, and the third year of the pandemic is well under way. Once again, the nation watches in expectation and hope

This time, though, their audience is less triumphant, a little more cynical and a lot more tired

Read the full report thetimes.co.uk/article/how-lo…