>>a virus that is able to mutate with ease

To be fair, corona viruses mutate relatively slowly compared with, say, influenza. The concern with omicron is that it has a number of mutations in the spike protein - the very part of the virus that vaccinations were designed to make our immune systems sensitive to. It's entirely possible that 'natural' immunity will be more effective (who knows what part of the virus those memory T-cells will trigger on?)

Also, reading Barry's The Great Influenza is what prompted pres George Bush to obsess over getting the nation prepared for "the next one". https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/george-bush-2005-wait-pandemic-late-prepare/story?id=69979013