@winston2020 wrote..
My guess is that they knew about this, but since the spike protein was IDed as the quickest and most obvious path to something that would arouse the immune system, they took that route because if you have a bad reaction to the S1 protein alone when it is a transient in your system, you'd have a far worse reaction when the actual virus was not only exploding cells, but producing large and continuous doses of S1 protein in the process of reproducing itself.
I've seen this theory bandied about and of course, it assumes that these people honestly wanted to solve a problem but couldn't figure out how to do it except through unethical means.
Reminds me of this exchange in Star Trek III: Search for Spock...
Saavik: It's time for total truth between us. This planet is not what you intended or hoped for, is it?
David Marcus: Not exactly.
Saavik: Why?
David Marcus : I used protomatter in the Genesis matrix.
Saavik: Protomatter. An unstable substance which every ethical scientist in the galaxy has denounced as dangerously unpredictable.
David Marcus: It was the only way to solve certain problems.
Saavik: So, like your father, you changed the rules.
David Marcus: If I hadn't, it might have been years or never.
Saavik: How many have paid the price for your impatience? How many have died? How much damage have you done? And what is yet to come?