Global President of Pfizer Vaccines, Nanette Cocero predicts when the pandemic will turn into an endemic. Not in 2022, but according to him the change will occur in 2024.
“We believe Covid-19 will transition to an endemic state, potentially in 2024,” he said, quoted by CNBC International, Tuesday (12/21/2021).
For information, endemic is when the disease is contagious only in certain areas or even lives in certain seasons such as seasonal flu. The pandemic is over, then the next stage is endemic although this does not mean the virus has completely disappeared from Earth.
This change will occur if the population has sufficient immunity from the vaccine. Transmission of the virus, hospitalizations and deaths remain under control at this time. Pfizer’s chief scientific officer, Mikael Dolsten also attributes this prediction to the fair distribution of vaccines to areas where vaccination rates are still low.
“When and how exactly this happens will depend on the evolution of the disease, how effective vaccines and treatments are, and the fair distribution of vaccines to places where vaccination rates are low,” he said.
Even so, there is one other determining factor, namely the presence of new variants that can emerge and have an impact on the continuation of the pandemic. Mikael Dolstren also added that there will be differences in the change in time when the pandemic becomes endemic in each region.
Pfizer’s prediction comes at a time when a number of countries are battling a spike in cases. The United States (US) is no exception, where the addition of cases is dominated by Delta and Omicron.
It was reported that new hospital admissions had increased by 4% in just seven days.
According to Angela Hwang who is Group President of Pfizer Biopharmaceuticals, stockpiling of vaccines and treatments such as Pfizer’s oral antiviral pill could also become more common. In addition, the company hopes that countries in the world can prioritize giving booster vaccines.
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