Doctors warn that Covid will become endemic and people need to learn to live with it

LONDON — More and more physicians and public health officials are warning that even with the mass rollout of safe and effective vaccines, Covid may permanently establish itself.

White House coronavirus advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci, Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel and World Health Organization executive director of the Health Emergencies Program Dr. Mike Ryan have said in recent weeks that the coronavirus may never go away.

To date, more than 107 million people worldwide have contracted Covid-19, with 2.36 million deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

David Heymann, professor of infectious disease epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, warned in October that the virus appeared to be on course to become endemic. He reaffirmed his position this week during a webinar for think tank Chatham House.

“I think if you speak with most epidemiologists and most public health workers, they would say today that they believe this disease will become endemic, at least in the short term and most likely in the long term,” he said.

Heymann is the chair of the WHO’s strategic and technical advisory group for infectious hazards and led the U.N. agency’s infectious disease unit during the SARS epidemic in 2002-2003.

Heymann cautioned that it was not yet possible to be sure of the virus’s destiny since its outcome depends on many unknown factors.

“Right now, the emphasis is on saving lives, which it should be, and on making sure that hospitals are not overburdened with Covid patients — and this will be possible moving forward,” Heymann said, citing the mass rollout of vaccines.

A report published by the Economist Intelligence Unit last month projected that the bulk of the adult population of advanced economies would be vaccinated by the middle of next year. In contrast, however, this timeline extends to early 2023 for many middle-income countries and even as far out as 2024 for some low-income countries.

It underscores the scale of the challenge to bring the pandemic under control around the world.

“Covid-19 is an endemic human infection. The scientific reality is that, with so many people infected worldwide, the virus will continue to mutate,” said Dr. Jeremy Farrar, director of Wellcome and a member of the UK.’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies.

“Living with this virus does not, however, mean we cannot control it. We need to learn lessons from 2020 and act swiftly. Every day counts,” he added.

Last month, the largest global study of long Covid to date found that many of those suffering with lingering effects had been unable to return to work at full capacity six months later.