Quote:
Originally Posted by coffeebean
We wouldn't be back to "day one" with a virus that is less virulent than the original strain. More contagious, yes, but not as deadly.
|
This gets complicated. And as with all misinformation that contains a touch of truth, it can be misinterpreted.
If the vaccine is preventing the mutated virus from being as deadly, then it can in fact mutate getting more contagious and MORE DEADLY, but hosts will survive longer since they are vaccinated. Then when it mutates again it could bypass the vaccine completely, and it will be both more contagious and more deadly.
That has NOT happened yet. In the random events known as mutation it could happen, the more hosts it infects, the more types of mutations that can occur. One of those could be the bad news bear.
That is WHY it is so important that enough people are vaccinated to prevent that possibility. That is why smallpox if mostly gone. That is why, until recently polio was gone. Vaccines were pretty much mandated everywhere and so, the virus was prevented from spreading rapidly and mutating rapidly until it self extinguished - mostly.
The recent surge of "anti-vaxxers" has brought Measles back from the dead, and have now reintroduced Polio. More to come as we progress further and further into the Dark Ages V2.