With over 2,84,700 deaths and more than 4.2 million positive cases, the novel coronavirus is continuing its deadly killing spree in all nooks of the world. As healthcare experts have not succeeded in developing an effective vaccine against the pandemic, a top scientist has warned that the world will never return to normal.
A dire warning from a top expert
These remarks are made by Peter Piot, director of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, and he was contracted with COVID-19 in March. In a recent interview given to Belgian magazine Knack, Piot revealed that developing a vaccine is very much essential for people to live normally again.
"The Commission is strongly committed to supporting the development of a vaccine. Let's be clear: Without a coronavirus vaccine, we will never be able to live normally again. The only real exit strategy from this crisis is a vaccine that can be rolled out worldwide. That means producing billions of doses of it, which, in itself, is a huge challenge in terms of manufacturing logistics. And despite the efforts, it is still not even certain that developing a COVID-19 vaccine is possible," said Piot, as translated from Belgian to English by Science Mag.
Piot also lashed out at people who propagate anti-vaccination campaigns. According to Piot, anti-vaxxers will negatively affect the efforts of the healthcare sector to contain the pandemic outbreak.
There could be never a coronavirus vaccine
A few days back, David Nabarro, a professor of global health at Imperial College London, who is currently serving a special envoy to WHO had claimed that there could be never a coronavirus vaccine, as developing an effective vaccine is a prolonged and uncertain procedure.
"There are some viruses that we still do not have vaccines against. We can't make an absolute assumption that a vaccine will appear at all, or if it does appear, whether it will pass all the tests of efficacy and safety," said Nabarro.
World awaiting a new normal
Several medical experts believe that the world will be living in a 'new normal' scenario if scientists fail to develop a coronavirus vaccine. In the new normal scenario, masks will emerge as new-age condoms, and people will be compelled to wear it whenever they step out of their houses. The world will also witness a spike in virtual friendship, as people will start interacting more digitally in the coming months.
