[ad_1]
The director of the American Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases, Anthony Fauci, believes that covid-19 will cease to be a pandemic due to vaccines, but advises not to “lower his arms” because he predicts that the coronavirus is endemic.
“I doubt that we can eradicate this. We need to plan because it is something we must keep in check on a chronic basis. It can become endemic, something we must be careful of. I am sure it will not remain a pandemic for much longer, because I believe that vaccines will change, “he said today during a ‘webinar’ with the Royal Institute of International Relations (Chatham House).
However, the epidemiologist also highlighted the need to continue respecting the guidelines to prevent the transmission of the virus, that is, the universal use of masks, physical social distance, avoiding crowds, socializing outdoors instead of closed spaces and washing hands.
“It seems so simple. But people identify this with the confinement and there is no appetite for the confinement, there is fatigue with the covid in the US and the rest of the world, “he acknowledged, highlighting the importance of the different US states implementing these. rules more evenly due to the situation. in the country “it is very difficult.”
Fauci warned of the risk that people will not follow the recommendations and restrictions due to the results announced on Monday by the American pharmaceutical company Pfizer and the German biotechnology company BioNTech that the vaccine they developed demonstrated greater than 90% effectiveness.
“Don’t stop shooting because the cavalry is coming. Do not lower your weapons, it is better to continue fighting because you have not yet arrived. Help is on the way, but it has not yet arrived. Don’t give up, don’t despair, the end is in sight. It is necessary to insist on public health measures ”, he added.
Fauci said that the fact that SARS-Cov-2 is an RNA-type virus means that it is constantly mutating, but “most mutations are not necessarily functionally relevant,” and he does not expect it, based on in other viruses of the same type. Over time, it becomes more virulent.
“But I don’t think it necessarily interferes with the vaccine or the therapies,” he said.
For the future, regardless of the “general approach” that President-elect Joe Biden presents in January when he takes office, he advocates the need for more therapies for the early stages of the disease.
“Studies show that Dexamethasone and Remdesivir have positive effects later, when people are hospitalized, even when they have a ventilator that receives oxygen (…) We need and we have promising results, which I think will improve with time, from drug antibodies monoclonal drugs directed at the virus, to avoid people having to go to the hospital, as well as direct antivirals, “he added.
Despite turning 80 in December and leading the Institute for 36 years, Fauci said he has no intention of retiring and that, in addition to covid-19, he wants to develop measures to combat other serious diseases such as malaria or tuberculosis.
“We have a lot to do in terms of global health and I will not leave without solving these [doenças]”He promised.
The covid-19 pandemic caused at least 1,285,160 deaths in more than 52.1 million cases of infection worldwide, according to a report by the French agency AFP.
In Portugal, 3,103 people died from 192,172 confirmed cases of infection, according to the most recent bulletin from the Directorate General of Health.
The disease is transmitted by a new coronavirus detected at the end of December 2019 in Wuhan, a city in central China.
[ad_2]
