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> It's only a matter of time before some mutant shows up that's resistant to a certain vaccine and we start from scratch. That's not a given. There's an evolut
by iSnow 5y ago
> It's only a matter of time before some mutant shows up that's resistant to a certain vaccine and we start from scratch.
That's not a given. There's an evolutionary space for mutations the virus that isn't endless. It seems far from clear that it can generate escape mutants that are resistant to the current vaccines, for that it would have to turn into a completely different virus.
>We emphasize, however, that enhanced transmissibility, rather than immunoevasion or greater lethality, would be considered the most potent path for the virus to become more fit and viable.
>Indeed, more-fit variants can be expected to emerge over time [...], but we believe that these will not continue to emerge indefinitely: nothing is infinite in nature, and eventually the virus will reach its form of ‘maximum transmission’
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-021-01421-7 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-021-01421-7
- Pyramus 5y agoThat's exactly right. As of today, some virologists think that we are already seeing early signs of convergence among virus variants, i.e. the same mutations appearing in different variants. It's early speculation and there is no guarantee, but it's certainly not given that there will be a variant that forces us to start from scratch.