The World Health Organization’s emergencies chief said it’spossible the new coronavirus may be here to stay, warning it’s impossible topredict when the pandemic might be controlled.
This virus may never go away, said Dr. Michael Ryan, in anews briefing on Wednesday. He said that the number of people infected byCOVID-19 so far is relatively low.
Without a vaccine, he said it could take years for thepopulation to build up sufficient levels of immunity to it. I think it’s importantto put this on the table, he said.
This virus may become just another endemic virus in ourcommunities, he said, noting that other previously novel diseases such as HIVhave never disappeared, but that effective treatments have been developed toallow people to live with the disease.
Ryan said there remains hope that an effective vaccine willbe developed, but even then, it would require a huge amount of work to producethe shots and distribute them worldwide to people willing to be immunized.
Every single one of those steps is fraught with challenges,he said.
Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO’s technical lead for COVID-19, addedthat she recognized some people were in a state of feeling quite some despair,but pointed out that stopping the virus even without medical interventions waspossible.
The trajectory of this outbreak is in our hands, she said.We have seen some countries bring the virus under control.