Scientists warn COVID vaccines may be effective for maximum one year, as virus mutates

Scientists are warning this first group of COVID-19 vaccines could be ineffective in a year or less as new mutations and variations or the virus emerge.

The warning is take from survey by the People's Vaccine Alliance, a group of several organizations, including Amnesty International, in which two-thirds of the scientists acknowledged such a scenario. The other one-third said the timeframe to develop new vaccines to vend off the mutating virus is nine months or less.

"New mutations arise every day. Sometimes they find a niche that makes them more fit than their predecessors. These lucky variants could transmit more efficiently and potentially evade immune responses to previous strains," said Gregg Gonsalves, associate professor of epidemiology at Yale University, according to The Guardian. 

The alliance also calls for pharmaceuticals companies to openly share their technology and intellectual property through the World Health Organization to better combat the coronavirus, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.