Will the coronavirus pandemic soon become endemic?
Most Americans, weary after two years of battling COVID, are resigned to a future that includes living with the disease indefinitely. A new survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation shows that 75 percent of US respondents are “tired” of the pandemic, and 77 percent believe that most people will eventually contract the virus. Nevertheless, a third of those surveyed see the pandemic as the country’s biggest problem. Medical experts predict that the end of omicron growth could signal the transition from pandemic to endemic. When the disease is endemic, it no longer unpredictably disrupts daily life. Stuart Ray, MD, an infectious disease expert and professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University, told CBN News that Americans have built up immunity as a result of the huge wave of omicron infections. “I have hope that we will get to a better place in the coming months, ” he said. However, Dr Ray points out that one of the challenges of thinking about an endemic state is that it is not always a good thing. “Tuberculosis and malaria are endemic in some countries and have devastating effects ,” he explained.
“Millions of people die every year from these endemic diseases. So just because it’s endemic doesn’t mean it’s mild.”
Experts point to the need for better vaccines. “It appears that in the coming months we will hear about the results of the Omicron antigen vaccine that will likely be combined with antigens from previous vaccines, ” said Dr. Ray, ” That combination could provide better, broader coverage.”
