Harvard immunologist Dr Shiv Pillai said that Covid-19 will become endemic and can’t be eradicate, underlining concerns that the Omicron wave may have a prolonged effect in India
Listen to this article
As the country battles with the Covid virus threat, prominent Harvard immunologist Dr Shiv Pillai has share that Covid-19 will become endemic and can’t be eradicate, underlining concerns that the Omicron wave may have a prolonged effect in India. However, spelling some relief, he added that vaccinations and drugs will make some impact.
Dr Shiv Pillai, Professor of Medicine and Health Sciences and Technology, Director, Harvard Immunology Graduate Program at the Harvard Medical School told ANI, “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.”
The Harvard Immunologist said that drugs like Paxlovid and Cipla will probably change the course of this pandemic.
“So I think yes, we will get very good control with drugs and vaccines and we will be in a better place but we won’t eradicate, it will be around,” he said.
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.
Noting that Omicron is going through community spread all over the world, he 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.”
He also underlined some concerns that the Omicron wave may have a prolonged effect in India. “It is a very different virus from the Delta that was in India before.”
Dr Pillai further stated the first version is slightly milder than the original virus milder than delta, alpha, beta and gamma and it did not affect the lungs as badly.
“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,” he said. (Courtesy Mint)
