A UC San Diego professor believes the window to eradicate the coronavirus has passed.
“I’ll be seeing COVID-19 as an infectious disease doctor for the rest of my career,” epidemiologist and Chief of Infectious Diseases at UC San Diego, Dr. Davey Smith said.
The virus that has infected more than 35 million people across the country has mutated into multiple variants, making it harder to control and harder to eradicate, Smith said.
“This virus was able to evolve during the time where we were trying to get vaccinations together, and now the number needed is near 80 to 90% of people vaccinated,” Dr. Smith said.
Public health experts believe there are many reasons that led to the current situation.
“I just think that there are too many people that are hesitant about this vaccine to get enough people vaccinated, to get that herd immunity that would be needed to get rid of the virus,” Dr. Smith said.
Despite the ongoing fight against COVID-19 there are currently more effective treatments to care for people who are infected.
“Right now we have treatments called monoclonal antibodies it’s an infusion of antibodies that have been turned into a therapy and it is given as a drug and if people are at high risk for disease progression meaning they are at high risk for being hospitalized or dying then these drugs can keep them out of the hospital and keep them from dying,” Dr. Smith said.
Along with the Monoclonal Antibody treatment, there are additional treatments being developed to treat people that are infected with COVID-19.