As the Lubbock Public Health Department continues to vaccinate citizens, the COVID-19 variants throughout the United States present a new threat. Lubbock experts discussed the variants and whether the vaccine protects against them.
Dr. Ron Cook, Lubbock Public Health Authority, said the coronavirus is a RNA virus and is made up of spike proteins. The spikes are made up of three different moieties, three little puzzle pieces as Cook called them.
Sometimes when the virus replicates one of the puzzle pieces changes its shape, this is called a mutation, Cook said.
âIt still fits together, but it changes just a little bit, and our immune system is so efficient that we make antibodies that fit that one type of spike protein,â Cook said. âSo, when that one little piece changes, then it sort of evades the immune system.â