Originally Posted by
Expressflight
So yesterday we had the WHO saying that COVID-19 should be eradicated within two years and this morning we have Sir Mark Walport, a member of SAGE, saying that "the virus is going to be with us forever in some form or another and almost certainly will require repeated vaccinations." It's bad enough that the Government seems to send out mixed messages but if the scientific community offers two totally contrasting scenarios of the future within 24 hours, it's no wonder poor old Joe Public is confused.
Both are correct. The virus will almost certainly not be eradicated, there are very few viral diseases that have been truly eradicated, but to the extent that it may be weakened as a result of mutations, or that herd immunity makes transmission les easy for it (the virus), or indeed one or more of the vaccines may be efficacious and again reduce infections to manageable levels; or indeed all three. Vaccination won't be the answer if enough anti-vaxers refuse to have the vaccination, and there are enough dimwits and conspiracy theorists posting garbage about immunisations on the interweb to make that a very likely scenario.
The problem with Joe Public is that not everyone has the intelligence to listen to and observes rules (or is it guidance, or perhaps advice - in UK, who knows?) and some are just too darn right selfish to bother complying because it gets in the way of what they want to do at any particular time.