Covid-19 will become endemic and people will start to live with some level of the virus as it can’t be eradicated, said Harvard immunologist Dr Shiv Pillai, adding that vaccinations, along with drugs, will make things betters and change things a lot.
Dr Pillai told news agency ANI that Covid-19 will turn less virulent, but the Omicron wave may have a “prolonged effect in India”.
“I think it will become an endemic state where we will start to live with some level of the virus, hopefully, less virulent virus. So it’s not such a bad disease for most people. I think that’s where we will end up in maybe a few years. I think vaccinations will get better and the drugs are going to change things a lot. Drugs like Paxlovid and Cipla will probably change the course of this pandemic,” said the Professor of Medicine and Health Sciences and Technology, Director, Harvard Immunology Graduate Program at the Harvard Medical School.
With vaccinations and new drugs there will be eventually a “very good control” and the world will be in a better place, he said. But Covid-19 won’t eradicate, it will be around, he added.
As Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) has already said that Omicron has reached in community, Dr Pillai said that BA.2 which is the second version of Omicron is slightly different that prolong the wave in India.
On Omicron being in community transmission stage in India, Dr Pillai said, “In India, there is a variant of Omicron BA.2 that’s also spreading, it is different from Omicron. In fact, Omicron BA.1 is the original, but it’s slightly different. It is a very different virus from the Delta that was in India before. It may have prolonged effects in India.”
“So as a result, the deaths and severity of the disease is definitely been less with Omicron which is first version BA.1 and the second version of Omicron, we don’t have yet enough studies to know this. We are hoping it will be like so only from the first version that is not as severe that it does not affect the lungs as much. But we don’t know it. We are waiting to see that. We hope that’s what it turns out to be the case. But we don’t know that’s being studied there,” the prominent Immunologist said.
Speaking on drug Paxlovid, he said, “It is a drug so the virus needs some enzymes it can mutate its surface characteristics. So it can change it to avoid the immune system, but it cannot change the enzymes within it, which are required for the virus to multiply. Okay, and that one of the enzymes are proteins Paxlovid is directed against the protease of SARS CoV 2 virus cannot afford to mutate. Because if it mutates that then it can’t function, right.”
Further, Dr Pillai mentioned that immunity from BA.1 first Omicron might give us some immunity against the second one BA.2. “But will that second one be as mild? Not proven yet. We’ll see the data will probably come from South Africa and India first. Because in India, BA.2 has taken over it is the most common version in India right now. It’s rising the second version of Omicron,” he added.
The Harvard professor said that all coronaviruses do not give immunity for very long times. “So you get infected you can get infected again, maybe for six months. You have some protection. But you know, even the Common Cold coronaviruses we don’t get immunity for a long time. I mean eventually so unless you will be vaccinated if you are boosted, your chances are they will go down some doesn’t mean reduce your chances. But if you’re boosted anywhere masks when you are in those with other people that you don’t know and so on, you will probably be protected for much longer. But most people will get infected with them and a large number of people will get it,” he added.
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