the formulation of the vaccine was very fast and relatively simple compared to the 12+ year span required to understand the virus to the extent that a working vaccine could be formulated.

we were lucky with this one, and we need to put more effort into surveillance of novel pathogenic threats and facillitate investigation regarding molecular characteristics

if this pandemic involved a pathogen that we have only a nodding familiarity with we would be having some very different concerns and probably have a pandemic that goes full bore until burnout with no vaccine available until such time as we learn how to make one.