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Moderna CEO: We Will Have To Live With Covid 19 Forever

Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel said that the world might have to deal with the coronavirus forever as it is not going away. He was speaking at the panel organized by JP Morgan Healthcare Conference.

Several health experts have already indicated that the Novel coronavirus could become another endemic virus that keeps coming back every season or have irregular outbreaks in the future.

Moderna CEO: We Will Have To Live With Covid 19 Forever

Anthony Fauci had also said that it is unlikely that we are going to eradicate coronavirus in the near future.

There are concerns about new strains of coronavirus emerging in different regions of the world in recent months. One of the new strains of coronavirus that was detected in the UK has spread to several countries across the world in recent weeks. The UK variant, also known as B117 variant, has now spread to more than 10 states in the US. It is said to be 70% more contagious than the common strain found in the US.

As of now, there is no evidence to suggest that the new strain would avoid the existing vaccines available in the market. However, scientists are also not ruling out the possibility that mutations can happen in a big way, and they may be able to evade the vaccines in some cases. The problem with the B117 variant is not with its deadly nature as it is not more severe than the common strain of coronavirus. The problem with this variant lies with the fact that it can transmit in a Lethal way and infect more numbers of people within a short duration of time.

Meanwhile, the US has distributed close to 30 million vaccines, and about 10 million people have been vaccinated according to the data from the CDC.

Health experts are of the opinion that the covid-19 restrictions may continue for a very long time in the future. Some of the common precautionary measures like using masks and maintaining social distancing may become the new norm in future.

There is no clear indication as to how long the protection from vaccines will last in our bodies. Recently, Moderna had said that its vaccine could offer protection for nearly one year. However, as the vaccine was approved only in the last one month, it may take a long time for health experts to confirm that the protection lasts for such a long duration. The earlier estimates had indicated that the protection from the virus could last for nearly six months in most people.

Even when it lasts for more than a few months, it is still not clear if the antibodies will be effective equally in all age groups. In this regard, people may have to take the covid-19 vaccines in the future, similar to other vaccines. Apart from that, there are chances of further mutations in the coronavirus, and it can lead to deadly strains in the future.

If the upcoming strains of coronavirus manage to mutate enough to avoid the immunity given by the vaccines, the health authorities will have a very big problem to deal with as they have to develop another vaccine to handle the new strain. It is common for the virus to mutate regularly and scientists are of the opinion that coronavirus can have up to two mutations every month.

It is important for the authorities to focus on mass immunization programs at the earliest as this will help them to break the chain of transmission by a huge margin. In this manner, the level of herd immunity can be reached within this year, and the situation can be brought under control.

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