COVID-19 will stay like other flu viruses, says UK COVID vaccine creator

A month after Chief Scientist of World Health Organisation warned that COVID-19 may be entering some kind of st of ‘endemicity’, creator of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine has reiterated that dely virus would have in coming days to eve immunity system.

creator of most widely distributed jab in world said that  virus will become weaker with time and this would ultimately stop dely virus from spreing. " coronavirus cant completely mutate because its spike protein has to interact with ACE2 receptor on surface of human cell, in order to get inside it," said Dame Sarah Gilbert, le scientist from Oxford University during a webinar titled: 'Vaccines, variants, and infection: position this winter' for Royal Society of Medicine on Wednesday.

"If it changes its spike protein so much that it can't interact with that receptor, n it's t going to be able to get inside cell. So, re aren't many places for virus to go to have something that will eve immunity but still remain infectious," she explained.

According to UK vaccine creator, COVID-19 virus would end like or flu viruses after an "unpredictable time" and asserted that would be best time to counter-attack on dely virus with next generation of COVID vaccine. "You see small changes accumulating over a period of time, and n we have opportunity to react to that," scientist said while comparing SARS-CoV-2 with or flu viruses. While explaining furr about spreing tendency of virus, expert ted that SARS-CoV-2 would become less virulent over time. However, she clarified that re is set timeframe for how long virus would take to become less virulent.

SARS-CoV-2 will become rmal flu with time 

"We rmally see that viruses become less virulent as y circulate more easily and re is reason to think we will have a more virulent version of SARS-CoV-2," she ted. Gilbert predicted that coronavirus would behave like or flu viruses in which a person would experience common cold. "We tend to see a slow genetic drift of virus and re will be grual immunity developing in population as re is to all or seasonal coronaviruses. We alrey live with four different human coronaviruses that we don't really ever think about very much and eventually SARS-CoV-2 will become one of m. question is how long it's going to take to get re and what measures we're going to have to take to man it in meantime," she said.

(With inputs from PTI)

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