COVID-19 Smiles – The Study of Vaccine Escape Mutants

COVID-19 Research Area(s): Diagnostics, Genomics & Transmission Dynamics

Vaccine escape mutants have the potential to undermine the effectiveness of the global vaccination campaign against SARS-CoV-2. The team will develop a surveillance program to detect and sequence viral variants emerging from vaccine breakthrough infections. These mutants will be tested experimentally to understand their responsiveness to vaccine-induced immunity, and modelling will be incorporated to project the impacts of vaccine escape mutants on transmission and pandemic progression in BC.