There is a race between viral variants and vaccines – and for humanity’s sake the latter must win
No one would blame Boris Johnson for wanting Covid-19 to be wiped out. The reality is that the disease is here to stay. New, more transmissible, variants have exposed the limits of trying to achieve herd immunity through vaccination. Sars-CoV-2 will be around for years. Viruses evolve usually into less deadlier forms. This time humanity faces a microscopic threat that has done the opposite. It is evolving to spread faster, infecting more people and claiming more lives. The public will have to coexist with Covid-19 much as it does with other endemic diseases like flu and measles.
Covid will remain persistently present, but the aim is to make it manageable. Society will need to adapt. The public should expect to have annual booster shots. Mask wearing and social distancing will be around for months to come. Schools will restart and offices may open, but there will have to be thought given on how to better ventilate them. Borders will need to be made less porous to variants. And a working, properly funded test, trace and isolate system is badly needed.
