Full vaccination against Covid suppresses development of mutations

 From a Twitter thread by Chise

This is fantastic. A recent study out of the University of Maryland presents the first evidence that full vaccination against COVID-19 actually SUPPRESSES emergent mutations of SARS-CoV-2 Delta variants therefore successfully debunking the myth that vaccines promote mutations.

COVID-19 vaccines are fundamentally restricting the evolutionary and antigenic escape pathways accessible to SARS-CoV-2 and full vaccination suppresses SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant mutation frequency. Researchers here showed that countries with higher vaccination rates generated FEWER mutations, suggesting less of a chance for the virus to gain virulent mutations in high vaccinated countries. Researchers found vaccination coverage rate was inversely correlated to the mutation frequency of the SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant in 16 countries of 20 countries studied and discovered Delta variants evolved differently under the positive selection pressure in the United Kingdom and India. Conclusion? Vaccines SUPPRESS emergent mutations. They DON’T promote them. You can find the study here.