White house Covid-19 taskforce member and America’s top infectious diseases expert Dr. Anthony Fauci said that the novel coronavirus won’t be a pandemic for “a lot longer”. He also thanked the researchers for the rapid progress in Covid-19 vaccine development.
Dr Fauci said, “Certainly, it’s not going to be a pandemic for a lot longer, because I believe the vaccines are going to turn that around,” adding to that he continued, “Vaccines will help us. What we’ve got to do is just hang on and continue to double down on the public health measures.”
The director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said at a function organized by a UK-based think tank Chatham House that people need to recommit to low cost public health measures like wearing masks, washing hands and social distancing as cases surge and Covid-19 could nonetheless circulate for years.
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Virus mutation detected
A virus mutation detected in Danish mink raised for their fur probably won’t compromise vaccines that are in development, Fauci said.
Fauci said his results were based on initial research by scientists in the U.S. While the mutation won’t probably compromise in vaccines, and it could create problems for treatments, such as monoclonal antibodies, he said.
Still, monoclonal antibody therapies, as well as antivirals, are increasingly in need of development so that people can get treated early on, thus scanting hospitals from getting overcrowded, Fauci said.
Denmark last week revealed, it had found a variant of the virus that officials fear that it could be so troublesome that it justified ordering the extermination of the country’s mink population of 17 million animals. But several concerns were raised over the mutation because it occurred on the virus’s spike protein, which targets the vaccines.
He said, the public also public needs to be prepared for the likelihood that protection against the virus is whether from vaccines or from fighting off Covid that will probably only last for a year, perhaps two.
It is based on experience with similar viruses and on the rising number of documented cases of people being infected with this coronavirus twice, he said.
While the virus is constantly mutating as it spreads, it’s unlikely to become more virulent or undermine the efficacy of vaccines — though again, such changes could lessen the impact of some therapies, he said.
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Fauci urged people to stay resolved
Fauci urged people to stay resolved while awaiting the vaccines after acknowledging that Covid fatigue has set in across much of the world. “Help is on the way, but it’s not here yet,” he said.
“To me, that’s more of an incentive of ‘Please don’t give up. Don’t despair. The end is in sight.”
Fauci’s comments came after American pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and German biotech firm BioNTech said their coronavirus vaccine was more than 90% effective in preventing Covid-19 among those without evidence of prior infection, according to data from their late-stage vaccine trial.
A similar shot developed by Moderna Inc., is expected soon as they have got the findings from the trials.
Pfizer and its German partner are the first ones to release the data successfully from a large-scale clinical trial of a coronavirus vaccine.
The drug firms said they have so far found no serious safety concerns and expect to seek US authorisation this month for emergency use of the vaccine.