Is Covid here to stay and will we keep needing boosters?

[Wbfa]

Just that really. First they said get vaccinated. Then they said oops, get a booster. Then oops again, second booster for extremely vulnerable folks. Some countries are already doing multiple boosters. AIBU in feeling like nobody really knows what is going on or what to do next?

I think it'll end up similar to flu, where the vulnerable get jabs each year on what could be predicted to be the more virulent strain, and the rest of us just act as we would with the flu.

At the moment it's just a terrible game of catch up - we might all be boosted to our eyeballs in the UK, but so many countries aren't that the virus can just mutate super quick and spread easily, not too sure how long it'll take to pan out.

As long as its free to all, I don't see a downside - call me naive but I don't do research, as I don't really understand the science that well and I trust experts.

You've heard of the annual flu vaccine?

It's not an "oops" situation. It's improved understanding of the virus and the immune response behaviour, and handling variants.

It's a new virus. Likely escaped from the Wuhan Institute of Virology lab research on bat coronaviruses - and possibly human modified (and therefore not a natural disease).

The experts (listen to the doctors and scientists, not the politicians) are still learning. But they are (learning) and will know more and more as time goes on.

Meanwhile like @HerNameIsIncontinentiaButtocks says we have an annual flu jab. It's nothing new and no big deal.

There are also some very good new treatments. No miracle cures but very very helpful. Particularly Pfizer's antiviral and the monoclonal antibody, sotrovimab. Both around 80% effective at preventing serious illness, if taken early enough.

Currently there is a severe (global) shortage of both treatments - but in the future hopefully there will be wider availability.

There will also be more knowledge and understanding.

Yep, I think its here to stay, yep I think we will probably need boosters each year.
I think it'll just take a few years before it gets to the point we've always been at with the flu.

As more people are exposed to covid, apparently the risks will become lesser to the average person, at which point vaccine drives will happen like they do for the Flu jab as the colder weather draws near.

I don't think at that point people will even be told to self isolate in the same way, just stay home, keep away from Dr's surgeries like we have all been told to do previously with the flu.

I think its here for good now, just in a less and less dangerous form on a population level than it has been known to be.

Just look at this year vs last year 180,000 cases from the past 24 hours, 57 deaths and no sign of lockdown, a year ago cases were Much lower, deaths were higher and we were all facing lockdown.

What, like the flu jab that people have been happily having every winter for at least the last 20 years?

Are you really criticising the medical and scientific world for updating their advice as the situation changes?

FFS

@Nowayoutonlydown

Yep, I think its here to stay, yep I think we will probably need boosters each year. I think it'll just take a few years before it gets to the point we've always been at with the flu.

As more people are exposed to covid, apparently the risks will become lesser to the average person, at which point vaccine drives will happen like they do for the Flu jab as the colder weather draws near.

I don't think at that point people will even be told to self isolate in the same way, just stay home, keep away from Dr's surgeries like we have all been told to do previously with the flu.

I think its here for good now, just in a less and less dangerous form on a population level than it has been known to be.

Just look at this year vs last year 180,000 cases from the past 24 hours, 57 deaths and no sign of lockdown, a year ago cases were Much lower, deaths were higher and we were all facing lockdown.

I think that's a fair assessment.

Yes, of course it is here to stay.

As for vaccines, why do you think it was an "oops" situation that we would need boosters? That was clear from the outset because all viruses mutate, so there were always going to be new variants.

The flu vaccines are given annually and tweaked for new variants, so this isn't a new thing. Why is it a shock that the Covid vaccines will be similar?

If it were yearly boosters then I’d accept that, but the fact is 2 vaccines and a booster in the space of 6-9 months with a possibility of a 4th vaccine in under a year is too much!

Yes I think covid is here to stay and think we just have to start learning how to live with it.

It’s an emerging situation. Of course nobody knows what’s going to happen, but some scenarios are more likely than others.
The situation will be very different when the virus is endemic.
If there weren’t so many people refusing to be vaccinated, perhaps it wouldn’t be necessary for those that are willing to do their bit to have the maximum possible immunity, but here we are.

We can’t learn how to live with it while it still has potential to collapse the health service. We need to get past that phase first.

Yes, I think in the longer term it will become similar to the flu with annual vaccines for the elderly and vulnerable.

@Tealightsandd It’s easy to tell when a virus has been modified, and this one hasn’t been. Please don’t spread misinformation.

@HerNameIsIncontinentiaButtocks

You've heard of the annual flu vaccine?

It's not an "oops" situation. It's improved understanding of the virus and the immune response behaviour, and handling variants.

Exactly this ^^.

It's a novel virus, so the scientists can only work with what they know at the time.

Hopefully it will mutate to milder versions and people will just require annual boosters just like we have for flu.

What would you prefer OP - that we weren't able to get any vaccines and that even more people died? The govt is just trying to keep us out of hospital and alive. Is that bad?

We're bloody lucky to live in a country that was at the forefront of vaccine development and which has made them available, for free (yes I know we're paying for them through taxes), to everyone.

For the people saying its nothing different from an annual flu jab, it is completely different. How many times have you been vaccinated for flu in the same year? For covid its 2 vaccines to be completely vaccinated and then a booster ideally within the same year (6 months where I am) and maybe more depending on where you are.

Yes, we have to learn to live with it

And that doesn't mean 'ignore it and crack on' it means things like boosters (probably moving towards annual shot in the autumn/winter in a while) plus some restrictions when there are peaks that need spreading/flattening (masks indoors, maybe some limits on non-essential activities)

Because we don't know what the next variant will be like, or the next, or the one after. So no-one can know what's going to happen next. It's something outwith human control. So we need to learn how to cope.

Also it very much coming across as an oops situation. First govts were confident herd immunity could be reached by getting larger populations completely vaccinated (twice). Then boosters. Pretty soon (who knows) perhaps we may follow Israels path of multiple boosters.

Ffs Yabu. Or course they didn't know what was the right thing to do at the beginning, did you not realise that this is a new virus? I think it has been on the news a little bit.

Because scientists don't have crystal balls. They work with facts and data, none of which were very forthcoming at the beginning of the pandemic.

@Wbfa

Also it very much coming across as an oops situation. First govts were confident herd immunity could be reached by getting larger populations completely vaccinated (twice). Then boosters. Pretty soon (who knows) perhaps we may follow Israels path of multiple boosters.

Christ. This is embarrassing. Genuinely.

What did I say that was embarrassing? Is this not what has happened?

The only "oops" part of this is how some politicians have behaved as if the rules don't apply to them but only to the rest of us.

The evolving situation with vaccines is only what you might expect as a scientific response to a new virus.

Oral vaccines are nearing completion. Soon it'll just be a pill.