Covid-19 Reuters Q & A with William Haseltine

I live-tweeted a fascinating and perhaps rather depressing meeting with William Haseltine via a Reuters Newsmaker Broadcast. His talk was upbeat but the message does not offer a positive outlook unless we can collaborate internationally to identify, trace, and isolate and go back to early antivirals to treat people urgently. A vaccine will probably never be found, we must stay on top of this virus when we get communities under control. Moreover, we must recognise that another emergent pathogen could appear any time. These are essentially my notes from Haseltines’s talk. Might we ever achieve herd immunity? There is no herd immunity. It doesn’t exist for any other coronaviruses, it is unlikely this one will be an exception. Sweden is a bad example of controlling this pandemic because they chased herd immunity. Don’t assume because you’ve been infected you are immune, even if you had an antibody response. This virus doesn’t have to change to re-infect, probably because it gets in through respiratory mucus membranes, this means a vaccine may never protect as they don’t protect such membranes. Vaccines work in the blood. Remember, as long as one person in the world is infected, we’re all at risk. This pandemic started with one person, after all. The US has to collaborate with China. We’re one world, we need a one-world solution. We’re not in a race, this isn’t a competition, we’re one species. We have to work toget...
Source: David Bradley Sciencebase - Songs, Snaps, Science - Category: Science Authors: Tags: Sciencebase Source Type: blogs