My understanding is that it allows virologists to better predict how viruses evolve and thus be able to more easily come up with a vaccine in case the virus doe

My understanding is that it allows virologists to better predict how viruses evolve and thus be able to more easily come up with a vaccine in case the virus does gain the function. Whether or not it is “supervillain wrongness” does not detract from the fact that someone will study such a thing. Humans are curious creatures and if there is an interesting thing to study someone will do it. This is a particularly important thing to keep in mind for state actors that have adversaries.