Buckle up—it’s time to manage our expectations. But not all hope is lost.
By Versha Sharma
Published on 5/15/2020 at 6: 28 PM
Coronavirus “may never go away,” a World Health Organization (WHO) official said at a media briefing this week.
“I think it’s important to put this on the table: This virus may become another endemic virus in our communities and this virus may never go away. HIV has not gone away, but we have come to terms with the virus and we have found the therapies and we found the prevention methods and people don’t feel as scared as they did before,” said Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of WHO’s health emergencies program. He added: “I’m not comparing the two diseases but I think it is important that we’re realistic. I don’t think anyone can predict when or if this disease will disappear.”
Ryan’s comments appeared as an attempt to manage expectations about whether the disease will ever be fully eradicated or controlled. According to WHO, more than 100 potential vaccines are in development. “We may have a shot at eliminating this virus but that vaccine will have to be available [worldwide],” Ryan said. “It will have to be highly effective, it will have to be made available to everyone and we’ll have to use it. This disease may settle into a long-term problem or it may not.”
As of Friday, there are more than 4.5 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 around the world, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker. Of those infections, more than 306,000 people have died worldwide.
Ryan also expressed a note of caution about vaccines being viewed as a cure-all. “Forgive me if I am cynical, but we hav