“European Medicines”: “Omicron” will turn the epidemic into an endemic disease with which humanity coexists
The European Medicines Agency has predicted that the spread of the mutated omicron, the Covid-19 epidemic, will turn into an endemic disease that humanity can learn to live with.
The agency expressed its doubts about the administration of a fourth booster vaccine dose, stressing that the repeated administration of doses is not a "sustainable" strategy.
"No one knows exactly when we will reach the end of the tunnel, but we will get there," said Marco Cavalieri, head of vaccination strategy at the European Medicines Agency, which is based in Amsterdam.
"With increased immunity in the population - and the spread of Omicron will provide more natural immunity in addition to vaccination - we will move quickly towards a more endemic scenario," Cavalieri said at a press conference.
But he stressed, "We must not forget that we are still in a pandemic."
The European branch of the World Health Organization has indicated that it is currently impossible to classify the virus as endemic as influenza.
"We are still facing a virus that is evolving very quickly and poses new challenges," said Catherine Smallwood, WHO's emergencies official in Europe.
So we are certainly not about to consider it endemic.”
According to the WHO, more than half of Europeans could be infected with the Omicron mutant within two months in light of the current "tidal wave".
The World Health Organization has warned that combating the Covid-19 pandemic with booster doses of existing vaccines is not a viable strategy, a view agreed by the European Medicines Agency.
"If our strategy is to give the boosters every four months, we will end up having problems with the immune response," said Marco Cavalieri.
"Secondly, there is, of course, the risk of overburdening the population from the continuous administration of booster doses," he added.
Instead, the official called on countries to start considering longer and early winter boosters, such as the flu shot.
Although omicron appears to be more contagious than other mutants, studies have shown a reduced risk of hospitalization after infection with this mutant estimated to be between one-third and one-half of the risk compared to Delta, according to the European Medicines Agency.
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