Fauci and the White House say annual COVID shots are likely coming soon: ‘We have a vaccine that matches’

[RV_]

Excerpt:

"Erin Prater - 22m ago

For the first time since December 2020, science has “caught up with the virus,” the White House’s COVID czar said Tuesday, in a news conference heralding the rollout of Omicron-specific boosters in the U.S.

Soon, healthy Americans may only need a COVID vaccine annually, with no need for boosters in between, Dr. Ashish Jha, the White House’s COVID response coordinator, and Dr. Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said.

“In the absence of a dramatically different variant, we likely are moving towards a path with a vaccination cadence similar to that of the annual influenza vaccine, with annual, updated COVID-19 shots matched to the currently circulating strains for most of the population,” Fauci said.

Some vulnerable groups, such as the eldelry and immunocompromised, may continue to need boosters, he added.

For nearly two years, researchers have been in a race against the novel coronavirus, as a slew of new variants rendered the first-generation COVID vaccine seemingly more impotent with each evolution.

As of September, science has caught up, Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, told Fortune."

Source:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/other/fauci-and-the-white-house-say-annual-covid-shots-are-likely-coming-soon-we-have-a-vaccine-that-matches/ar-AA11wYUa

[RV_]

Explainer: Is COVID winding down? Scientists say no.

PUBLISHED: September 6, 2022 at 11:37 a.m. | UPDATED: September 6, 2022 at 11:42 a.m.

Excerpt:

"New booster shots have arrived and social distancing guidelines have eased but COVID-19 infections aren’t going away anytime soon. Experts predict the scourge that’s already lasted longer than the 1918 flu pandemic will linger far into the future. Vaccines and protections are making the virus easier to live with — for now. But it is still killing more than 400 Americans every day, and it may well keep evolving in worrisome ways, such as becoming better able to get around immunity from vaccination and past infection. It’s possible it could also evolve to cause more serious disease.

Is the coronavirus on its way out?

You might think so. New, updated booster shots are being rolled out to better protect against the variants circulating now. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has dropped COVID-19 quarantine and distancing recommendations. And more people have thrown off their masks and returned to pre-pandemic activities.

But scientists say no. They predict the scourge that’s already lasted longer than the 1918 flu pandemic will linger far into the future.

One reason it’s lasted this long? It’s gotten better and better at getting around immunity from vaccination and past infection. Scientists point to emerging research that suggests the latest omicron variant gaining ground in the U.S. — BA.4.6, which was responsible for around 8% of new U.S. infections last week — appears to be even better at evading the immune system than the dominant BA.5.

Scientists worry the virus may well keep evolving in worrisome ways.

HOW LONG WILL IT BE AROUND?"

Source with more:

https://www.mercurynews.com/2022/09/06/explainer-is-covid-winding-down-scientists-say-no/

 

 

 

[Kirk W]

The latest on the coronavirus

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In the wake of an outbreak of coronavirus that began in China in 2019, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health experts have been speaking to a variety of media outlets and writing articles about the pandemic. We’ll be updating this article on a regular basis. Here’s a selection of stories in which they offer comments and context: