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In Two Years, Covid-19 Will Become Endemic In The US
A study has suggested that the coronavirus pandemic is likely to reach the endemic stage in the US. The statement was made based on a modeling study conducted on rats.
The Yale School of Medicine researchers in the US studied rats, which, like humans, are also susceptible to coronaviruses, to understand better when the Covid pandemic will get over.
Over the past two years, scientists have concluded that SARS-CoV-2 yields non-sterilizing immunity. People who have been infected or vaccinated are still at risk of reinfection. So experts expect that the virus won't go away any time soon.
"Coronaviruses are very unpredictable, so there could be a mutation that makes it more pathogenic," said Zeiss.
The more likely scenario is that we see an increase in transmissibility and probable decrease in pathogenicity," she added.
The researchers noted that illnesses like the common cold and the flu have become endemic in human populations, meaning everyone gets them now and then. Still, for most people, they aren't especially harmful.
Zeiss said that with natural infection, some individuals would develop better immunity than others.
People also need vaccination, which is offered through a set dose and generates predictable immunity.
However, the study showed that with vaccination and natural exposure, the population accumulates broad immunity that pushes the virus towards endemic stability.
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