Decoded: How can vaccine makers adapt to new coronavirus variants?

By tweaking their vaccines, a process that should be easier than coming up with the original shots.

Viruses constantly mutate as they spread, and most changes aren’t significant. First-generation Covid-19 vaccines appear to be working against today’s variants, but makers already are taking steps to update their recipes if health authorities decide that’s needed.

Covid-19 vaccines by Pfizer and Moderna are made with new technology that’s easy to update. The so-called mRNA vaccines use a piece of genetic code for the spike protein that coats the coronavirus, so your immune system can learn to recognize and fight the real thing.

If a variant