TWiV explains that a recent report suggesting that the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein inhibits V(D)J recombination in vitro would not impact immunity after infection or vaccination, and describes the isolation of remdesivir resistant mutants in cells in culture, and the emergence of amino acid changes in the spike protein identical to those in variants of concern, in the absence of immune selection.

Paul and Theodora return to TWiV to explain their research on determining the number of neutralizing epitopes on the SARS-CoV-2 spike that are recognized by antibodies, and engineering of a polymutant spike with twenty amino acid changes that demonstrates the high genetic barrier to escape from convalescent serum.

TWiV reviews the latest data on the UK variant of SARS-CoV-2, including some properties of the variant and why it is being closely studied, development of liver cancer in a participant in a adenovirus-associated virus gene therapy trial, and answers to listener questions.

The TWiVers analyze efficacy of the AstraZeneca/Oxford adenovirus vectored vaccine, SARS-CoV-2 did not infect miners who became ill 8 years ago after cleaning bat guano from a cave in Yunnan Province, and induction of antigen-specific germinal center responses and production of neutralizing antibody by SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccine but not purified protein.