Covid: definitively getting rid of the virus is “almost unlikely”, Alain Fischer says

Published by Caroline de Sortiraparis · Published on May 10th, 2021 at 02:31 p.m.
While many people are expecting to overcome Covid-19 thanks to vaccines, immunology professor Alain Fischer says in an interview with Le Parisien published this May 7, 2021 “getting rid (of the virus – Editor’s note) is almost unlikely”.

Can one hope to definitively get rid of Covid-19 in the coming months? In an interview with Le Parisien this May 7, 2021, government “Mister VaccineAlain Fischer said “getting rid (of the virus – Editor’s note) is almost unlikely. […] But this is not necessarily disturbing”. Fischer explained: “the most likely hypothesis is not the emergence of a very aggressive variant, even though we cannot exclude it… but rather it can weaken and behave like other coronaviruses, by giving us simple colds”. He also reminded that smallpox is the only virus that has been eradicated “in the history of modern biology”.

Therefore, will a yearly Covid-19 booster shot be necessary? “This is undoubtedly the most likely scenario”, Fischer said. Yet, it is still unknown how long vaccines currently given are effective for. “The first Pfizer and Moderna data show they are still effective after six months”, Fischer said.

During this interview with Le Parisien, the immunology professor also said the goal was “to ditch facemasks by the end of summer”.

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