British Scientists Fear a Forever COVID War, Germany Opts for Booster Shots
Voice of America
The British government's scientific advisers have raised the prospect of fighting a forever war against the coronavirus saying the eradication of the virus "will be unlikely." And they warn "there will always be variants."
They hold out the hope that the virus may evolve in such a way that it causes "much less severe disease," but they caution that is unlikely to happen for some time. Preventive measures and restrictions will be needed in the meantime as there's a "realistic possibility" that vaccine-resistant variants will emerge. And, chillingly, in a report released last week by Britain's Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies, otherwise known as SAGE, the scientists do not discount the chance of a new variant arising with the deadliness of MERS, another coronavirus which has a case fatality rate of 35%. Report quietly releasedA TV screen shows a file image of North Korea's rocket launch during a news program at a bus terminal in Seoul, South Korea, May 27, 2024. FILE - Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi speaks to reporters in Colombo, July 29, 2023. FILE - A TV screen shows a report of North Korea's spy satellite into orbit with its third launch attempt this year with an image of North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Nov. 22, 2023.
Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike on a camp for internally displaced people in Rafah on May 27, 2024. Fire rages following an Israeli strike on an area designated for displaced Palestinians, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, in this still picture taken from a video, May 26, 2024. Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike on a camp for internally displaced people in Rafah on May 27, 2024. A member of the bomb squad of the Israeli police collects debris after a rocket fired by Palestinian militants struck in the Israeli city of Herzliya on May 26, 2024.