Dose-dependent effects of recombinant spike protein-based vaccination on SARS-CoV-2 evolutionary dynamics and the emergence of variants in hamster models
Investigating the evolutionary dynamics of the SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant in hamsters immunized with varying doses of a full-length spike protein vaccine indicates that heterogeneous vaccine-induced immune pressure can shape intra-host SARS-CoV-2 evolution in a dose-dependent and host-specific manner and highlights the potential role of partial immunity and increased iSNVs in the upper respiratory tract in driving the emergence of putative immune-evasive viral variants.