Brisbannite

Looks like we'll be getting another tool in our arsenal to fight Covid-19, along with the oral treatment developed by Pfizer.

I'm loving the name of Ronapreve. That one's going to be easy to remember

Beoz

Give it a year and Covid won't rate a mention any more.

spouse of scouse

Why? Will Covid have been eradicated in a year? Will the current supply problems in low-income countries, in which only 2% of the population are currently vaccinated, have been resolved? Will Covid-19 will stop mutating amongst the unvaccinated, and will there be no further variants that resist current vaccines?

I'm all for being optimistic, but to say that Covid won't even rate a mention in a year isn't realistic.

Brisbannite

I agree, we're still talking about the effects of the virus that caused the flu pandemic a century ago.

Its absolutely vital that we get the low income countries vaccinated against Covid as soon as possible. Usually viruses become weaker as they mutate but covid is bucking the trend.

Beoz

Good points, developing or low income countries and the implications on the rest of of world presents us all a big headache, another reason why we shouldn't be wrapping up AstraZeneca production here. We could and should be continuing production and be sending that all over the developing world.

Your point also presents problems with booster supplies for the developed world. mRNA production can't really be scaled as quickly as something like AstraZeneca can.

I just think where we have come in a year and a half in developing and distributing such vaccines, having something like 50% of the world already vaccinated, and the production of drugs like this to deal with an infection, and with another year of roll out, development, etc, we would still have to be living quite a restricted existence for Covid to be rating much of a mention. It barely rates a mention in Europe now and it's certainly not eradicated. We will just be dealing with it through vaccines and drugs. I am an optimist it will only rate a flu like mention in a year. Here's hoping anyway 😀