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I agree. Someone please correct me if I’m wrong, but I imagine it’ll be a huge advantage to be able to produce new vaccines at the same rate that a weaponized v

• jimmydorry 5y ago
  It comes at the cost of reducing regulatory burden but also the oversight and safety rails required to make sure the "cure isn't worse than the disease". For the initial wave of COVID-19, it was an absolute necessity, but unless our backs are pinned metaphorically to the wall, is it really worth taking a short cut? In the best case, COVID-19 will become endemic (prevalent every season, but not as harmful for the majority of the population)... so wiping it out by way of universal uptake of a given vaccine is not (and never was) on the tables. A weaponized virus would inflict untold suffering, but there is nothing to stop another Operation Warpspeed. Having OW active all the time? I don't see that being a good thing.
• sjmm1989 5y ago
  IF I Understand Correctly; this could actually backfire on the entity using it as a weapon by constantly having new vaccines at the ready. IIUC: This means that they would essentially be supplying the new pressure and stressors required for the virus to be forced into mutating more and more since its current environment is not suitable for its current arrangement. Every time it replicates there is a chance for mutation, but greater stressors increase that chance of mutation. Depending on the stressors, the mutation may or may not occur in tandem to that stressor. I.E. Vaccines increase immunity? Virus gains ability to breakthrough easier. Now that may be a rather simplistic understanding of it, I admit; but this does seem to coincide with what is essentially happening so far this past couple years. 1. New variant emerges. 2. More people get vaccinated. 3. Old 'new' variant dies off 4. New 'new' variant picks up. 5. More people get vaccinated, or re-vaxxed. 6. Old 'new' variant dies off, again. 7. New variant emerges, or a subvariant, or double mutation. Repeat. Eventually we will all be vaccinated 3 times or more, easily. Or at least a very large majority of us. What happens when some super variant emerges and has the capability to breakthrough all that resistance? More vaccines? You do see where this is going, right? Doctors and scientists were concerned about a very similar situation with anti-bacterial resistant bugs. Stuff like H.Pylori in hospitals if I remember correctly. Well, now we have the same situation potentially occurring on our hands. We can only hope that the mRNA vaccines or something better is/are able to keep ahead of the game. The only way we are beating this thing out, is by completely snuffing it out. And that's going to require removing all its potential hosts. That means we might have to vaccinate wild animals, because deer have been catching it for instance. And apparently spreading it in some cases. Once so far for sure is confirmed I believe. So yeah, Deer-vid is a thing now. Hooray? It's going to be either a lot of animal vaccinations going on out there... or a huge culling. Of all sorts of animals. Or letting them catch it and suffer through it for better resistance for a time being; and then hoping to snuff out the virus finally at that point. I'm sure you can see how hopeless this all is at this point. It's part of why the politicians are now saying "we need to learn to live with Covid." And I agree, I guess. Not really much choice at this point. It's here to stay in its current forms, and further. For now at least. So, huge advantage? Sure, maybe. Depends on your goals.