[walkingdead]

We press a coronavirus (notorious mutator) with very narrow pressure (single spike protein narrow) and we wonder whether it drove the mutations?

We seem to have forgotten everything about virology.

[goodnesswins]

Can you explain post 29?...I’m confused

[Flick Lives]

We press a coronavirus (notorious mutator) with very narrow pressure (single spike protein narrow) and we wonder whether it drove the mutations?

—

Indeed. Covid is in the coronavirus “family” and like all coronavirus it is RNA based. RNA based viruses replicate less precisely than DNA giving rise to numerous mutations / variants. It’s random. Most mutations fail.

But the variants that survive and thrive tend to then be the ones that replicate more. Look how rapidly Delta became the predominate strain. The more a given strain evades the vaccines, the more successful it becomes.

Anyone trying to create a durable effective vaccine is in an arms race with an enemy that keeps changing form to evade the antibodies. Not with any mindful deliberation, but simply thru random chance.