Here's how scientists can update coronavirus vaccines for omicron

The omicron variant contains a new pattern of mutations to its spike protein. These changes could disrupt the ability of some - but probably not all - of the antibodies induced by the current vaccines

If the omicron variant of the coronavirus is different enough from the original variant, it’s possible that existing vaccines won’t be as effective as they have been. If so, it’s likely that companies will need to update their vaccines to better fight omicron. Deborah Fuller is a microbiologist who has been studying mRNA and DNA vaccines for over two decades. Here she explains why vaccines might need to be updated and what that process would look like.

1. Why might vaccines need to be updated?

Basically, it’s a question of whether a virus has changed enough so that antibodies