COVID-19 Vaccines Could Be Tweaked Like Lego Set

(CBS4) - With the arrival of variants of COVID-19, there are questions about how well the current vaccines will work. During an interview on CBSN Denver, CBS4 Medical Editor Dr. Dave Hnida was asked how hard it would be to create a new vaccine.

"Certainly developing the original vaccines have been a challenge but I think the news in terms of adjusting those vaccines is a little bit better than we all think it might be," he said.

Hnida explained part of that is because of testing that's already been done and other testing that's about to get started.

"There will be human trials beginning next month for these changes in vaccines," he explained. "It is going to much shorter than what we just went through. Instead of spending multiple months with thousand and thousands of people, it will be more like what we do with a flu vaccine, hundreds of people tested."

He also said the technology means the manufacturing will be must faster.

"If you really want to oversimplify it," Hnida said, "you could almost look at the vaccine architecture almost like a Lego set. If you have part of that Lego set that just don't work anymore what you do is remove that piece and you insert a new one."