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According to a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), the novel coronavirus will be here forever in some form or the other, the BBC reported.
Sir Mark Walport, Sage member, said that people need to be vaccinated against the virus at regular intervals to contain its spread, adding that areas with large populations will see the virus spreading faster. He added that the world’s population is significantly larger than what it was during the 1918 Spanish flu, the pandemic that took two years to end.
Sir Mark’s remarks came two days after World Health Organisation Chief said that he hopes the pandemic will end within two years.
Sir Mark made the comments while speaking to BBC Radio . He said: “In order to control the pandemic, global vaccination would be required, but coronavirus would not be a disease like smallpox which could be eradicated by vaccination.”
“This is a virus that is going to be with us forever in some form or another, and almost certainly will require repeated vaccinations. So, a bit like flu, people will need re-vaccination at regular intervals,” he added.
He said that less than one in five people around Britain has tested positive for the virus. So, 80 per cent are still susceptible to it. “It is this terrible balance between trying to minimize the harm to people from the infection and protecting people, whilst keeping society going,” he added.
As per worldometers tally, United Kingdom has so far reported 324,601 cases of the coronavirus, with 41,423 died of it.
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