Scientific and pharmacological experts were cautiously optimistic at the Davos Forum on Monday about the evolution of the pandemic with omicron.
Scientific and pharmacological experts, including the American epidemiologist Anthony Fauci, were cautiously optimistic at the Davos Forum on Monday about the evolution of the pandemic with the omicron variant, although they agreed that it is early to conclude that COVID-19 has “flu-like”.
“An endemic coronavirus, which no longer paralyzes societies, is possible”, but “this case will only happen if new variants do not appear that elude the immunity of previous strains”, stressed Fauci, the main health adviser to the US government in the current health crisis.
The also director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the United States, however, ruled out the possibility that COVID-19 will be totally eradicated, “something that in the history of infections has only happened once, with smallpox.”
Annelies Wilder-Smith, Professor of Emerging Infectious Diseases at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, agreed that it is too early to downgrade COVID-19 from “pandemic” to “endemic”.
“It is very likely that new variants of the coronavirus will emerge, the question is whether they will be more or less dangerous,” he said in the session dedicated to the pandemic at the Davos Forum, which this week is holding conferences in virtual format and not in person due precisely to the current global wave of infections linked to the omicron variant.
“Based on the evolutionary advantages of a virus, it is most likely to be attenuated and associated with less severe cases (…) since it is in its best interest to be more contagious without causing the death of the host organism,” explained the expert.
Wish for the best, prepare for the worst
Despite this, “the world must be prepared for the worst possible scenario, even if it is not the most probable”, in the sense that a new highly contagious and highly lethal variant could emerge, he said.
The leader of the coalition of experts for epidemic preparedness CEPI, Richard Hatchett, added that “it can be anticipated that COVID-19 will behave like the flu in the sense that it will continue to circulate among people”, but there is still worrying aspects, such as its rapid contagion capacity.
Fauci added that another reason for concern in the new wave of infections is the capacity for reinfection of the omicron variant (people who have had the disease get sick again), which makes it extremely difficult to achieve the desired group immunity.
The American expert acknowledged that one of the great errors in the global strategy against the pandemic has been the lack of coordination on issues such as vaccination: “The virus cannot be allowed to circulate freely in certain parts of the world, there is a moral obligation with the countries low-income,” he stressed.
In terms of vaccines, the CEO of Moderna, Stéphane Bancel, gave reason for optimism by indicating that a specific vaccine against the omicron variant could be ready in a matter of weeks in its laboratories, waiting to be approved by the regulatory authorities. .
Flu + covid vaccine?
In the longer term, the company is working on a combined vaccine against influenza and coronavirus that reduces the frequency with which the population has to be inoculated with an annual “prick”, although in this case it predicted that such protection will not be ready before the end of 2023.
In this regard, Fauci assured that the current situation in which booster doses are considered every time a new variant of the coronavirus emerges is not optimal and a universal vaccine should be tried that can be used against any evolution of SARS-CoV-2.
The experts agreed on the need to continue increasing access to anticovid vaccines for developing countries, at a time when the percentage of people with the complete regimen against the disease already exceeds 50% but in many low-income economies there is still does not reach 10%.
Hatchett, whose CEPI coalition manages, together with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the GAVI foundation, the distribution of vaccines through the COVAX platform, announced that this dose distribution system to the most needy economies has just overcome the barrier of the 500 million units shipped.
Moderna hopes to have a joint flu and covid-19 vaccine in 2023
WHO maintains international emergency for coronavirus
Bancel indicated that, of the 800 million vaccines distributed by his firm in 2021, 25% went to low- and middle-income countries and predicted that this year the number of doses produced by the firm will reach 2,000 or even 3,000 million.
Inequality in the fight against COVID-19 is not only evident between rich and poor nations, but also in the same country between different social layers, as Fauci admitted when asked how an advanced country like the United States already has almost 65 million infections and 900,000 COVID-19 deaths.
“Access to health care in our country is very uneven and there have been high rates of hospitalizations and deaths from COVID-19 among minorities,” acknowledged the expert, who also expressed concern about the current setback in his country to the time to accept the sanitary measures against the pandemic.
“The rejection of normal and understandable measures that we know work, such as wearing a mask or promoting vaccination, is increasing,” lamented the American epidemiologist, who stressed that “not following these recommendations is giving the virus an advantage.” (I)
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