Yes, it could, but potentially you reach a point where there is little or no interest in vaccination. In that case the harmful mutations are self-defeating beca

Yes, it could, but potentially you reach a point where there is little or no interest in vaccination. In that case the harmful mutations are self-defeating because they get stuck at dead-end homes with their hosts, who stay home from work. In the highly vaccinated version of the story, vaccinated people are mostly unaffected by the severe effects, so they go about their lives and, if they happen to be the ones with the harmful mutations, they give those variants a fighting chance to spread. It would be different if the vaccines reduced viral load, but the limited studies available don't seem to point in that direction.