The WHO has recommended dropping a component of many flu vaccines because the viruses it protects against appear to have been driven into extinction in the Covid pandemic.
The WHO has recommended dropping a component of many flu vaccines because the viruses it protects against appear to have been driven into extinction in the Covid pandemic.
Much as I agree that more could and should have been done, I don’t think there is any way to contain this particular coronavirus (unlike the original SARS, which did go extinct from similar measures). SARS-CoV-2 transmits readily between people and animals. It would be impossible to avoid transmitting it to pets and farm animals, and from there impossible to avoid transmitting it to wild animals, and back again.
We absolutely can slow it down to avoid healthcare systems collapsing under the strain but I don’t think it is possible to eliminate it and there probably never was a time when that was realistic, given how infectious it is and how many people are infectious but asymptomatic for at least a day or two if not longer.
The only reasonable way to mitigate the risk in the long-term is proper ventilation/filtration in all enclosed public spaces, schools and workplaces. Plus ongoing six-monthly vaccinations at least until a vaccine which provides durable immunity is developed.