Covid-19 is likely to be with us 'FOREVER' EU health chief admits
- An EU health chief has admitted that Covid-19 may remain with us 'forever'
- 'We should be prepared that it will remain with us,' ECDC head said on Friday
- The health chief added that the virus appears to be 'well adapted' to humans
An EU health chief has admitted that Covid-19 may remain with us 'forever' due to how well it has adapted to humans.
The world should be prepared for the coronavirus to continue to circulate long-term despite the roll-out of vaccines, the head of the EU's ECDC health agency, Andrea Ammon, said on Friday.
'We should be prepared that it will remain with us,' the head of the Stockholm-based European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control said in an interview.
An EU health chief has admitted that Covid-19 may remain with us 'forever' due to how well it has adapted to humans
'It seems more likely that it would stay. It seems very well adapted to humans,' she said.
'It wouldn't be the first virus that is with us forever, so it's not an unusual feature for a virus.'
While vaccines dramatically reduce the risk of contracting the illness caused by Covid-19, scientists have not yet established with certainty whether vaccines also reduce transmission of the virus.
The world should be prepared for the coronavirus to continue to circulate long-term despite the roll-out of vaccines, the head of the EU's ECDC health agency, Andrea Ammon (pictured), said
There is also particular concern that the vaccines may not be as effective against some variants of Covid-19, especially the South African and Brazilian ones.
'The question is what it then means in terms of the changes of the virus for the vaccine effectiveness,' Ammon said, citing the seasonal flu as an example where vaccines are adapted annually.
'It might turn out that (the coronavirus) goes the same way, or that at one point it remains stable and we can use one vaccine for a longer period,' she said.
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