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“In the longer term, virologists cannot predict how SARS-CoV-2 will evolve.”

I read this as there’s no reason the virus can’t mutate and render a vaccine ineffective.

Wonder if it will end up like the flu, where we have to make a new vaccine every year to deal with that years strains.

The flu has special mechanisms that let it evolve every year and change its outer proteins. Coronaviruses don't, and they mutate more slowly because they have a proofreader.

The article is from May 2020 when vaccination was still a somewhat distant possibility.

Not an expert, but my guess is a lower immune response to the vaccine in older patients.