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It actually can put them in tension. If the vaccine only stops symptoms it can remove the selective pressure to be less deadly and can actually cause the virus
by tengbretson 6y ago
It actually can put them in tension. If the vaccine only stops symptoms it can remove the selective pressure to be less deadly and can actually cause the virus to evolve to be more deadly overall.
If this is the situation we are in, then it would make the most sense to only vaccinate the most vulnerable, and not vaccinate the bulk of the population in order to keep the virus selected for survival + transmissibility.
- standardUser 6y ago"...can actually cause the virus to evolve to be more deadly overall" That is wildly speculative. Pathogens do not evolve inevitably towards maximum lethality.
- tengbretson 6y ago> That is wildly speculative. I'm not sure what more you should be asking for in a discussion about "what could happen" Of course it is speculation. And it is based on what we know about other viruses at large and the our current best information about covid.