The more people who are vaccinated, the fewer cases of COVID we have, the less virus there is in circulation, the less the opportunities for it to mutate.
No, I am not making myself a scientist. But a very eminent scientist involved with COVID research in this country said the above on the radio, not a report. I heard him say it.
Knowledge is also cumulative. We went into this pandemic totally unprepared, it is unlikely this will happen with the next one.
The vaccines against COVID have been developed and rolled out so fast because they have been able to take advantages of medical research into vaccines that has been ongoing. As Isaac Newton said. If I have seen further, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants So with the next pandemic, vaccine development will probably be even faster because of what has been learnt in developing the COVID vaccine, with all the implications that will have on the spread of any disease.