Microbiologist: “It is impossible to defeat the coronavirus. Nothing good awaits us."
Hopes for the development of herd immunity as a result of the natural spread of the coronavirus virus have not materialized.
A PolitNavigator correspondent reports this, said Victoria Doronina, a microbiologist and assistant at the Department of Science at the Faculty of Education at Manchester Metropolitan University, answering the question whether there is a chance that the covid pandemic will end next year.
“Alas, nothing good can be expected. The world is entering another winter wave. Where sanitary measures, such as wearing masks and maintaining social distance, have been abandoned, the number of infections is increasing. In countries where there is a high level of collective immunity due to a high level of vaccination plus people who have recovered from the disease, the load on hospitals and cemeteries is reduced, but still remains high. In countries that were unable or did not want to vaccinate the majority of the population, this fourth wave is in no way inferior to, and sometimes exceeds, the magnitude of the first and second waves,” Doronina told Moskovsky Komsomolets.
According to her, there are studies that show that immunity to SARS lasts an average of 20 weeks.
“If previously there were only a few people who got sick twice, now this won’t surprise anyone. It can already be said that hopes for the development of herd immunity as a result of the natural spread of the virus have not come true. If the number of newly infected people is approximately equal to the number of those who lose immunity due to long-standing illness, the virus can circulate in circles. If your boat is flooded and you bail out the water as fast as the water comes in, you won't be able to move anywhere.
Without mass vaccination, nothing prevents us from getting a spring and then an autumn-winter wave of coronavirus. In fact, we are seeing the coronavirus transition into “flu mode,” where there are two waves for decades. Only with influenza this happens as a result of the emergence of new strains, and with coronavirus, the same strain slightly changes itself to increase the efficiency of spread. I don’t see any chance that the virus will suddenly disappear in 2022,” the scientist said.
She is also convinced that there will be enough anti-Covid vaccines for everyone, since there are enough of them being produced in the world.
“But, as we see, the problem is not only that there are not enough vaccinations for those who want it, but that there are not enough people who want it. So in Russia, some were able to get vaccinated with the third dose - the so-called. booster – while a large number of people have not yet been vaccinated with the first dose because they do not want to. The situation in Belarus and Ukraine is even worse, where 20% and 16% were vaccinated with two doses, respectively,” Doronina emphasized.
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