this post was submitted on 23 Feb 2026
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"I think what we have is a universal vaccine against diverse respiratory threats," Pulendran said.

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[โ€“] Lemminary@lemmy.world 26 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Evolution will happen whether we want it or not and new strains will appear from time to time, just like we've seen with every virus ever known.

But if you still think that's what happened, we'd love to see your evidence of this new strain being man-made.

[โ€“] qualia@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago

Exactly. Our immune system is excellent but its immune cell exploration space is on the order of 10^11 potential receptors.

So since RNA viruses in particular can mutate so rapidly, we just use our brains to reduce that by 10+ orders of magnitude and target the antigens we want directly. The end result is the same, biotech is just smarter.

"Know your enemy and know yourself and you need not fear the result of a hundred battles." ~biotech