Professor Čaplinskas: Even after the COVID-19 vaccine won’t go away

It is doubtful that COVID-19 will ever go away.

As Professor Saulius Čaplinskas, director of the Center for Communicable Diseases and AIDS (ULAC) wrote on the social network, experts from the World Health Organization (WHO) warned that the world will have to learn to live with COVID-19.

WHO Director General TAGhebreyesus said the end of the year was a time to reflect on the state of the pandemic and the progress made. He said that the coming year would see new failures and new challenges, such as mutated virus strains or a growing need for help for people tired of the pandemic, ”wrote S. Čaplinskas.

According to the teacher, it will be necessary to learn to live a new reality. SARS-CoV-2, like the other 4 human coronaviruses, is likely to become endemic and continue to mutate.

“The world hoped that if enough people were protected, herd (group) immunity would develop. The concept of herd immunity seems to have been misunderstood. The likely scenario is that the coronavirus will become another endemic virus that will continue to pose a threat that it will be reduced in the context of an effective global vaccination program. Even the existence of a very effective vaccine does not guarantee the eradication of an infectious disease, “wrote the professor.

The new reality is with coronavirus passports and temperature measurement

The effect of the vaccine, according to a specialist in communicable diseases, will be gradual. The first goal of the vaccine is to protect vulnerable people, prevent symptomatic diseases, serious complications and deaths, and save lives.

However, it is not yet clear whether the vaccines will prevent the transmission of the coronavirus and thus reduce the number of infections.

️ “There is reason to believe that vaccinated people should take the same precautions. Therefore, initiated vaccination does not mean that it will be possible to abandon physical isolation in the foreseeable future, ”wrote S. Čaplinskas.

The professor added that the new reality could be with coronavirus passports, constant temperature measurement, maintaining a safe distance, and ensuring adequate indoor ventilation on a daily basis.