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Original poster

WHO saying thete may never be a vaccine

27 replies

LoopyLlama · 03/08/2020 22:01

BBC headlines on the news app tonight reporting the above.

It was sounding so optimistic recently and now this. Do you think they're prepping us all for this reality?

I've always been in fear of this as I cannot see how life will ever get back to normal without a vaccine. I've been laughed at before when I've said this.

This is just so depressing.

OP posts:
Snog · 03/08/2020 22:05

Of course there are no guarantees but never in the history of the world have we had so many people working on developing vaccines for Covid and at an unprecedented rate with unprecedented resources.

I think we will have a vaccine within the next 18 months, and it could easily be within the next 6 months. And I'm one of world's pessimists. Have faith OP.

Waxonwaxoff0 · 03/08/2020 22:06

No one knows.

And life will get back to normal even if there is no vaccine, living this way isn't sustainable.

JacobReesMogadishu · 03/08/2020 22:07

I guess there’s a possibility, after all there’s no vaccine for a number of viruses such as hiv.

However with it being a coronavirus hopefully it should be easier to develop one in the same vein as a flu vaccine. That’s what the woman in charge of the oxford vaccine reckoned anyway.

BrokenBrit · 03/08/2020 22:10

Best tell Russia! Apparently they have a vaccination programme beginning in October..

Doyoumind · 03/08/2020 22:11

Well, there's a chance there won't be but that's not the same as saying there won't be. There's a good chance there will be. They just don't want people to depend on it and want to reinforce the message around measures to prevent the spread of the virus.

covetingthepreciousthings · 03/08/2020 22:11

Great Sad

WrongKindOfFace · 03/08/2020 22:12

It’s possible but he’s right in what he says that we need to focus on preventative measures at present - and that is something that people certainly need to be reminded of.

KenDodd · 03/08/2020 22:12

I've heard Russian already have a vaccine and will start distributing it within the next two weeks (I bet it's the Oxford vaccine and the stole it).

Anyway, I'm optimistic, I think people here will start being vaccinated before Christmas.

moretolifethanthis2020 · 03/08/2020 22:14

They also said it has a 96.4% survival rate....

Blue5238 · 03/08/2020 22:16

But even if there isn't a vaccine, there are other ways to massively cut virus rates.

Imagine you could test 1000 people and get the results in half an hour. Imagine a home testing kit that you can do in 30 seconds, send the results to an app on your phone and prove you are covid free. This is all the kind of stuff that is being worked on, which is very feasible for allowing things to open up even without a vaccine.

If you have much better, much faster testing, then track and trace is for much smaller numbers of people so much more feasible to get right.

CoffeeandCroissant · 03/08/2020 22:21

It has always been the case that there may not be a vaccine, so what they said is nothing new. In other words it's not certain/guaranteed that there will be one. However it looks like it's far more likely that there will be one than not. Initial vaccines may not be perfect though, for example they may require 2 doses and/or need to be given annually or they may not stop infection completely, but would prevent more serious cases.

"A number of vaccines are now in phase three clinical trials and we all hope to have a number of effective vaccines that can help prevent people from infection. However, there's no silver bullet at the moment - and there might never be."

The WHO head said that, while the coronavirus was the biggest health emergency since the early 20th century, the international scramble for a vaccine was also "unprecedented".

But Mr Tedros underscored uncertainties. "There are concerns that we may not have a vaccine that may work, or its protection could be for just a few months, not more.
www.rte.ie/amp/1157050/

MarcelineMissouri · 03/08/2020 22:26

By silver bullet they mean something that will literally stop it in its tracks and kill it off completely. THAT is highly unlikely to ever happen, and indeed doesn’t need to happen. We have many serious diseases that still exist that we have managed to bring under control with treatment and vaccines. I am quite sure that is what will happen here too.

Pixxie7 · 03/08/2020 22:27

The Oxford vaccine is due to be reporting 3rd wave in November if successful it will only need approval. So fingers crossed.

ACautionaryTale · 03/08/2020 22:29

@moretolifethanthis2020

True. But they were overly pessimistic since it’s survival rate is probably at least 98% if not greater than 99% when you include everyone who’s had it and not just those with confirmed cases

CoffeeandCroissant · 03/08/2020 22:30

This is a good summary from the former director of the CDC:

^Preliminary studies indicate that several types of vaccine now in development produce a strong immune response. This is good news, but it doesn’t mean that the vaccine will protect people against infection or disease. We don’t know whether the immune response is protective, and if it is, how extensive that protection will be. (Protection ranges from 0% to 60% for influenza vaccines to 95% or higher for some other vaccines.) Even if a vaccine protects against disease, it may not prevent people from becoming infected and spreading the virus to others.

Nor do we know whether all people will be protected by a new vaccine—particularly older people, who are at a markedly higher risk from Covid-19 and may be less likely to have a strong immune response. We also don’t know how long any protection will last. We don’t even know how protective natural Covid-19 infection is; for many vaccines, the extent of immunity to natural infection is the ceiling of their potential efficacy.

We don’t know whether all people will be protected by a new vaccine.
Still, we have ample reason to be guardedly optimistic that some vaccines will provide some level of protection, and that this will be demonstrated before the end of 2020.^

Full article:
<a class="break-all" href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-three-key-hurdles-for-a-coronavirus-vaccine-to-clear-11596200623?redirect=amp#click=t.co/iZSkijdA2a" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.wsj.com/articles/the-three-key-hurdles-for-a-coronavirus-vaccine-to-clear-11596200623?redirect=amp#click=t.co/iZSkijdA2a

cheeseandhambaguette · 03/08/2020 22:30

If they can improve treatment to the point where nobody dies or gets seriously poorly then that would definitely help resume normal life, even if a full on vaccine wasn’t available

Sunshinegirl82 · 03/08/2020 22:35

We don't have a "magic bullet" for measles either. Or malaria. Or TB. Or HIV. Or any of the other thousands of diseases that we live with. They exist, we manage them and get on with our lives.

A combination of immunity, vaccination, treatment etc and I have every faith we will be pretty much back to normal in the not too distant future. Not this year perhaps, but I'd be pretty hopeful that by the end of 2021 we will be there or thereabouts.

Redolent · 03/08/2020 22:37

WHO can fuck off. Constantly contradicting themselves and generally being useless. They just want to get into the headlines with any attention grabbing story.

whenwillthemadnessend · 03/08/2020 22:42

Who always paint worst case scenario

The headlines involved with them are always really pessimistic

Jussayingisall · 03/08/2020 22:43

As quite a few people have said you might wanna tell that to Russia cause they are locked and loaded and ready to go.

Namechanger20183110 · 03/08/2020 22:43

@Redolent

WHO can fuck off. Constantly contradicting themselves and generally being useless. They just want to get into the headlines with any attention grabbing story.
This.

Constant sound bites and stating the obvious. Remember that they financially benefit massively while this pandemic remains a pandemic. Their funding has gone up astronomically

ButteryPuffin · 03/08/2020 22:44

The key part of that statement is 'Do it all'. He's saying we can't just carry on as normal and think 'oh well, there'll be a vaccine in a few months or a year' because while there almost certainly will be, that attitude will kill people in the meantime. We have to do all the prevention, mask wearing, distancing, in the meantime. Things will improve. It won't be like this forever, or even in a year's time.

ChristmasinJune · 03/08/2020 22:45

It doesn't quite say that. It says that vaccines are progressing well but there may never be a silver bullet. This is referring to a vaccine that's given once then gives life long immunity. Fair enough, there's a strong chance that this is the case but if the vaccines we do develop can drastically reduce numbers of cases (even if given yearly like the flu vaccine) plus treatment and testing becomes more effective we'll be able to return to normal. They're really just urging people to cooperate with current guidelines and not behave like dicks because "there'll be a vaccine soon".

tobee · 03/08/2020 22:50

Nothing is certain except death and taxes.

But I'm still optimistic about a vaccine. And sooner rather than later.
And about really good treatment. And faster test turnarounds.

So.

DebLou47 · 03/08/2020 22:51

@Redolent

WHO can fuck off. Constantly contradicting themselves and generally being useless. They just want to get into the headlines with any attention grabbing story.
This

They said no human to human contact and also said not to close the borders
I don't believe anything this man says I think all corrupt