No lockdowns.
The speed we got the vaccine is straight up science fiction compared to what was possible in the 90s. Sequencing the genome alone would take ages.
Even after less than a year everyone is about at the end of their rope. In the 90s it would have to have been stretched multiple years so they would just not do it and hoped for the best.
Yeah, rememeber when the human genome project was a civilization wonder in the CIV games? With years of effor spennding 100s of million $?
Now it just $50 and takes a few hours.
We take it for granded that the chinese released the RNA "source code" of the virus within 8 weeks of the first case, and that we can test millions of people each day for the genetic structure of the virus.