3 ms·
That assumes that the virus can't mutate a different way to get into the cell. Which is false assumption because there exists no single way to exist a cell. If
by lmilcin 6y ago
That assumes that the virus can't mutate a different way to get into the cell. Which is false assumption because there exists no single way to exist a cell.
If this was true a single drug would be effective against all viruses. What is preventing DNA of multiple viruses to mix together and exchange some parts?
You could argue that this is rather rare occurrence, but that is exactly the point. It happens sometimes and the more chances we give to the virus the more likely this happens in reality.
- ceejayoz 6y agoIt's a mistake to discount "this works well" because it doesn't necessarily work perfectly. Targeting the vaccine in a way that lessens the likelihood of mutations making it ineffective is a sensible approach. Thus far, data seems to show the mRNA vaccines being pretty resilient to the mutations out there. https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2021/03/24/science.abg9175 https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2021/03/24/scie...
- jjk166 6y agoIf the virus mutates enough that it develops a completely different method of entering cells, it's essentially a different virus. This would change its rate of transmission, it's incubation period, its infectivity, even symptoms. It's no more likely that covid-19 mutates into the next pandemic virus than any of the other coronaviruses already in circulation do. Yes it's good to get people vaccinated quickly, there's certainly no good that will come from unnecessarily prolonging the current pandemic, but it will end.