SARS-CoV-2 spike protein remains remarkably conserved among 37 variants from Hong Kong As the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic continues to intensify in many parts of the world, vaccine development is proceeding apace. Indeed, the earliest approved vaccines are now being administered to hundreds of thousands of people the world over. However, the occurrence of mutations leading to the emergence of multiple variants has led to uncertainty about the possibility of escape mutations, which would render these vaccines ineffective. A new preprint on the bioRxiv* server, appearing in December 2020, indicates that these fears may be unnecessary, given the current state of knowledge about the virus.