57 Varieties of Virus?

The development of a new strain (with several mutations) of the Covid-19 virus in the SE of England seems to confirm developing fears about the pandemic's direction (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/19/new-coronavirus-strain-in-south-east-england-prompts-fears-of-third-lockdown). The trouble here is that, it's like having a new virus, in that there are lots of questions to which we need urgent answers (the same will apply to any new variant). There is a suggestion (probably based mainly on its rapid spread in that locality), that the new strain is more infective than its predecessor. People have also been assured (only on the basis that we have no evidence of the opposite thus far?) that it is no more dangerous than the original strain. We are also told it is unlikely to be resistant to any of the vaccines being developed to treat Covid-19. These, however, have only been trialled on the strains that existed at the time they were developed. The appearance of this new stain as well as the creation of a mutant line in the Danish mink colonies, suggests there is a real danger of multiple forms of the virus, developing in human and a variety of animal hosts. If we don't minimise transmission and hit the virus with a fast and efficient vaccination programme throughout the world, we are likely to have to live with the little freeloader on a permanent basis. I would personally push the approval of vaccines harder, accepting that this may result in safety problems.