COVID-19 Vaccines Could Be Spurring Variants, Say Israeli and European Experts

A nurse fills up a syringe with a COVID-19 vaccine at a senior center in San Antonio, Texas, on March 29, 2021. Sergio Flores/Getty Images

Commentary

In January, an Israeli Defence Forces Intelligence report (pdf) warned that Israel’s mass vaccination program could create an Israeli mutation that proved resistant to COVID-19 vaccines. Prepared for Coronavirus National Information and Knowledge Center, the report stated that “The mass vaccine campaign taking place parallel to the active outbreak in Israel may lead to ‘evolutionary pressure’ on the virus.”