What do you think life will be like if there's no vaccine or cure...

[Lou0808]

Just that really?

Will our lives be lived forever having to social distance? Always having to wear masks.
Will that just be our new normal?

I know my post is a bit gloomy, and I am trying to hold onto hope that there will eventually be a vaccine.

But seriously, what if there never is?

I was so looking forward to taking my DD to a family festival next year.
Holidays, swimming.

I hope one day we can do this but it makes me sad to think of al the things she could miss out on. 😕

They stopped trying to find a vaccine for SARS because it died out. It’s not that they never found one

I wish this could be pinned to the top of any vaccine thread, to preempt the inevitable 'Oh but they never found a vaccine for SARS' comments. Why waste millions on a disase which was successfully contained in 2003?

Agree with you, @TARSCOUT, I have autoimmunity and I won't be first in the queue for a vaccine until I am satisfied with safety.

I too believe we should live and let live, there will be people who don't want the vaccine for their own reasons, and that's fine. My immune system is very reactive to the smallest thing, so I will want to be as sure as I can be before I introduce a vaccine, and that may depend on the vaccine's contents. I do live in an isolated way, however - mainly housebound, certainly haven't been out at all this year, even before the virus struck. I might have to make a different choice if my life circumstances were different.

@IcedPurple okay, they’ve never found a universal vaccine for flu either. We just live with it. Neither have they found a vaccine with long-lasting protection against malaria or tuberculosis.
None for parasites like Chagas, elephantiasis, hookworm or liver flukes. None for some viral threats that could become pandemic, like Nipah, Lassa and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome.
None for some that already have, including Lyme, West Nile, Zika and hepatitis C or AIDs..
I’m happy to go on....my point is that it may not happen and/or it may not happen for a good long while so we can’t just sit and wait for that, we need to find other ways to deal with it.

okay, they’ve never found a universal vaccine for flu either

That's because flu isn't a virus. It's a disease caused by many different viruses. And there do exist several different highly effective vaccines for many of these viruses.

I’m happy to go on

As you wish. But these are all very different pathogens to Covid, and don't have the whole world eagerly searching for a vaccine.

my point is that it may not happen and/or it may not happen for a good long while

Many experts are optimistic that it will indeed happen, and quite soon. In fact, China has already started vaccinating their military for Covid.

I do live in an isolated way however
I think we might see more people taking this option.
I used to think that the reason I rarely get colds and flu is because I'm very focused on staying healthy, now I see things differently, I think it's mostly because I'm a very solitary person and I spend very little time in situations where there would be high transmission of respiratory borne infections.
I am now able to see my introverted nature as a feature rather than a bug!

In fact, China has already started vaccinating their military for Covid.

They have a safe, working vaccine? Can they share the details? I’m guessing not by your post

They will find a vaccine. The Oxford team are really optimistic about it and there are literally dozens of other really good global projects doing the necessary research. It might not be a total home run - we might end up with something that doesn't stop you getting it, but does mean you don't get it severely. And the protection might not last that long - maybe a couple of years. But it's a start and a hell of a lot better than the situation right now.

As time goes on, we'll see better treatments emerge, too.

This is why we need to slow the progress of this disease now, and why I disagree with people who are acting like the virus responds to wish fulfilment. It won't go away just because we find its presence amongst us inconvenient. It's all the more important to keep protection going now so that we don't lose more people.

They have a safe, working vaccine? Can they share the details? I’m guessing not by your post

edition.cnn.com/2020/06/30/health/china-coronavirus-military-vaccine-intl-hnk-scli/index.html

@raviolidreaming

even if a vaccine is developed , who will want it

I'm in the Oxford vaccine trial, but me if I find out I've had the control instead! It's not brand new out of the box - it's built up around existing vaccines and science.

Ooh that's interesting. I was commenting to DH the other day wondering how vaccine trials work. Do they expose you to the illness or just let you go on your normal life, as, how would anyone know whether you would have caught it or not without the vaccine? If that makes sense.

A totalitarian regime claims to have a vaccine

So 8 of the 17 world wide vaccine programs in trial are in China. Where did this virus come from again?

What price will China extract for its use/production?

@IcedPurple flu is definitely caused by a virus. Not sure where you are getting your info from.

@crosseyedMary I am now able to see my introverted nature as a feature rather than a bug!

Haha yes, in the current circumstances it does confer an advantage. I was enforced into a housebound existence a decade ago with bad back pain, and I think I probably experienced at that point what many are experiencing now, re loss of freedom to go out and about and resulting depression. Am well over those feelings now.

@IcedPurple flu is definitely caused by a virus. Not sure where you are getting your info from

And I'm not sure what post you've been reading, because it's definitely not mine!

This is what I wrote:

flu isn't a virus. It's a disease caused by many different viruses

So yeah, I'm fully aware that flu is a viral disease, thanks.

I’m a bit of an introverted hermit myself crosseyedMary. I too don’t get sick that much.

Only problem is I almost always pick up some kind of horrible lurgy on holiday It’s actually a bit of a running joke at my work that I always come back from holiday sick.

I have always regarded holidays as more trouble than they are worth but then I live by the sea and the bliss of living alone makes life seem like a constant holiday..... for me

I wonder if more instantaneous testing might be developed to help stop the spread. So you could be tested on the spot in an airport for example.

I think if no vaccine or treatment we would see, localised lockdown, no dropping of the 1m rule, masks on public transport & shops etc, but I think eventually everything would open and be available including indoor gatherings (except in cases of local lockdown) because the economic and social cost of not doing so will outweigh the cost of covid.
Just an opinion though.

The UK is taking first dibs on any UK developed vaccine. The US is taking dibs on the US developed treatment drug. I'd be shocked if the UK hadn't already bought up a truckload of dexamethasone by the time the announcement was made. That's how these things work.

Think back a couple of months to when China put a stop on medicine raw ingredients being shipped to India, which then stopped all exports of the finished generics, leading to shortages worldwide.

When it comes down to it, countries will always put their own residents first.

@TARSCOUT
Thanks for explaining, I'm sorry for what you've had to go through. I've got coeliac disease and other issues going on atm so I understand to some extent what you've been through, it's no fun

@Nighttimefreedom

I wonder if more instantaneous testing might be developed to help stop the spread. So you could be tested on the spot in an airport for example.

I think if no vaccine or treatment we would see, localised lockdown, no dropping of the 1m rule, masks on public transport & shops etc, but I think eventually everything would open and be available including indoor gatherings (except in cases of local lockdown) because the economic and social cost of not doing so will outweigh the cost of covid.
Just an opinion though.

I read about a 'breathalyser' a while back that has been developed to give an instant result as per the below link. There doesn't seem to be any update on it though.

www.eurotimes.org/israeli-researchers-optimistic-about-covid-19-breathalyser-test/

shinynewapple2020

Ooh that's interesting. I was commenting to DH the other day wondering how vaccine trials work. Do they expose you to the illness or just let you go on your normal life, as, how would anyone know whether you would have caught it or not without the vaccine? If that makes sense

It wouldn't be ethical to deliberately expose us to covid when there's no cure / were no proven effective treatments when the trial started, but I'm phase 2 which was recruited predominantly from health care workers as we're more likely to come into contact with covid. Now the UK's community cases are falling, participants have been recruited in Brazil.
We're currently on week 4 of (at least) 16 weekly swab tests, and have bloods taken for antibodies at 1, 3, 6 and 12 months.

Dr Andrew Hill of University of Liverpool said "watch this space" re good treatments being revealed next week; Sky News reported yesterday.

@tobee do you have a link? Sounds interesting!

I don’t know when or if a vaccine will be successful. Even if it is, how will the whole population get one? Even in the UK imagine vaccinations for 65 million people.
Until such a time, how long can we keep social distancing for? How long can we realistically live like this?How long before half the work force is redundant?

www.google.com/amp/s/news.sky.com/story/amp/coronavirus-whole-array-of-drugs-being-tested-as-covid-19-treatments-as-uk-confirms-remdesivir-stock-12018954