Viruses, variants and vaccines

Abstract

The current SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has brought a number of major global clinical, sociological and economic issues into sharp focus. We address some of these issues, focusing on short-term factors such as virus mutations and vaccine efficacy, and also considering the longer-term implications of the current pandemic. We discuss societal responses to the presence of a pathogen that will probably remain in circulation for decades or longer, and to future new emergent viruses.