Will We Take Off Masks Next Year? ... COVID Vaccine Developers Say "It Will Likely Become Similar to the Flu"

Moderna CEO "Additional Shots Will Ensure a Safe Winter"
AZ Vaccine Developer UK Professor "More Deadly Variants Unlikely"

COVID-19 vaccine developed by Moderna / Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Juhyung] Scientists who developed the vaccines currently used for COVID-19 vaccination predict that a 'return to normal life' will be possible within a year, raising expectations for the 'end of COVID-19.' These experts foresee COVID-19 becoming a disease with fatality and infectivity levels similar to those of the common cold.

Stefan Bancel, CEO of Moderna, stated in an interview with the U.S. media outlet Washington Post (WP) on the 23rd (local time), "I believe a return to normal life will be possible within a year."

He emphasized, "By mid-next year, there will be enough vaccines for everyone worldwide to be vaccinated," adding, "Vaccine production is continuously increasing even now." Moderna is currently developing and producing messenger RNA (mRNA) COVID-19 vaccines used for vaccination domestically and internationally.

However, CEO Bancel mentioned that additional vaccinations might be necessary to end COVID-19. He explained, "Additional doses are expected to be needed every 1 to 3 years," and "COVID-19 will eventually become similar to the flu. If vaccinations are administered timely, people can safely get through the winter."

Professor Sarah Gilbert, who co-developed the AstraZeneca-Oxford University COVID-19 vaccine / Photo by Oxford University

Bancel is not the only expert predicting the 'end of COVID-19' within a year.

Sarah Gilbert, a professor at Oxford University who co-developed the vaccine produced by the British pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, also stated that it is unlikely that a more deadly variant surpassing the Delta variant will emerge.

According to the British daily Telegraph on the 22nd, Professor Gilbert explained at an online seminar of the Royal Society of Medicine in the UK that "when the virus spreads among people with strong immunity, it tends to become less deadly over time." In other words, in developed countries like the UK with high vaccination rates, the likelihood of more lethal variants emerging is low.

The COVID-19 virus invades the body through 'spike proteins' protruding from its surface. However, if these spike proteins mutate excessively, they cannot interact with human receptors, making it increasingly difficult for the virus to invade the body, according to Professor Gilbert.

She emphasized, "While the virus can evade human immunity, there is little room for it to mutate into a more contagious form," and "Generally, viruses tend to become less deadly as they spread more. There is no reason to believe that a more lethal variant of COVID-19 will appear."

Professor Gilbert also predicted that COVID-19 will become a disease similar to seasonal illnesses such as the common cold.

Regarding this, she explained, "The COVID-19 virus tends to show slow genetic changes," and "Like all other seasonal coronaviruses, human immunity will gradually develop."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.