Selection of new COVID-19 genotypes following mass vaccination: the Rotavirus model

In case of generation of a new resistant variant, large-scale vaccination would then exert a selective action which would favor its prevalence over the dominant strains in a short time. If a vaccine-resistant variant develops at the time between vaccination and exposure, the vaccinated individual could be left unprotected. In the case of widespread of a resistant viral variant, the vaccination campaign might be retroactively ineffective. Moreover, since most of COVID-19 vaccine target either the viral Spike protein or the Spike protein receptor binding domain, the development of a resistance could destabilize at the same time the effectiveness of other vaccines.