“It is very unlikely” that coronavirus “will be eradicated”, warns Fauci, medical adviser to Biden

The White House medical adviser, Anthony Fauci, assured that it is “very unlikely” that the coronavirus COVID-19 “is eradicated”, when participating in a videoconference in the Congress of the Future that takes place in Chile.

“It is very unlikely that this will be eradicated. We have achieved it only with the smallpox virus. In addition, given its high degree of transmissibility and the fact that many people do not want to be vaccinated, as in the United States, it will be difficult to eliminate, ”said the adviser to the US president, Joe Biden, in a video.

The immunology expert is one of the main speakers at the “Congress of the Future”, an event that is organized every year in Chile and brings together experts from around the world to talk about the world’s challenges.

Fauci said that he does consider it possible to control the virus “at some level, through vaccination” and by the effect “of a population that has already been infected and has sufficient low-level immunity.”

In this way, it will be possible to learn to live with the coronavirus, “without this posing a threat” to health, hospital systems and the economy, the expert added.

For this, he marked booster vaccines as essential, which generate a notable increase in antibodies.

“We know from studies that the rates of hospitalization, serious illness and death are much lower in those who received the third booster dose, compared to those who received only two doses,” Fauci said.

He also added that booster doses “work against omicron,” the variant “that is currently challenging the world.”

“What happens with omicron in several countries is a vertical increase, quite radical compared to delta. Note that South Africa appears to have already peaked and is falling sharply. We are seeing indications of that in other countries like the United Kingdom and the United States,” Fauci said.

According to an AFP count based on official data, there are currently 329 million infections and 5.5 million deaths worldwide caused by COVID-19.