The world will soon be dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic for a whole year. It has turned the lives of a lot of people upside down and the majority of people want to get back to normal. If the scientific community seems to have been skeptical that life would resume its course quickly, one of the manufacturers of the Covid-19 vaccines estimated that it would be possible by the winter of 2021.
A projection possible thanks to future vaccines
As coronavirus cases continue to increase at an alarming rate in North America and Europe, BioNTech says life is expected to return to normal by next winter. Remember that BioNTech is the German company that is working with the American pharmaceutical company Pfizer for the development of a vaccine against Covid-19. Recently, the two companies announced that the vaccine candidate which is currently in the final phase of testing has shown 90% effectiveness. It is in particular on the basis of this discovery that BioNTech based its estimates.
” I am very convinced that transmission between people will be reduced by such an effective vaccine – maybe not 90%, but maybe 50% – but we must not forget that even this could lead to a dramatic reduction in the spread. of the pandemic ”Said Professor Ugur Sahin, co-founder of BioNTech, to BBC. He also said that the impact of the vaccine for the coronavirus is expected to be felt significantly over the next summer, hence the conclusion of a return to normal life in winter 2021. Moreover, the company plans to deploy 300 million doses of its vaccine by April of next year.
As Pfizer and BioNTech are not the only ones projecting mass use of their vaccine in the coming months, there is cause for hope. Indeed, the American competitor of Pfizer, Moderna, has also just announced that its candidate vaccine had accumulated an efficacy of 94.5%. This vaccine is also in the last phase of testing and the company intends to apply for an emergency use permit to start vaccination as soon as possible. For their part, the Russians have also announced that their vaccine will soon be operational and that the latter is 92% effective. If it turns out that all these vaccines keep their efficacy rate at the end of the final tests, a return to normal is indeed possible.
A return to normal life still subject to many constraints
Despite BioNTech’s optimism, we still have to remain cautious as there are still many uncertainties about the real impact of future vaccines. First, it was clearly specified that all these vaccines are still in the testing phase. Although the preliminary results are promising, only the final results will be able to tell if these vaccines will be really effective. Then, there is still no data on whether these new vaccines will be effective and safe for the individuals most vulnerable to Covid-19, namely the elderly. Finally, the duration of the immunity induced by these new vaccines is also unknown.
For its part, the WHO is also less optimistic. According to the director general of the organization, a vaccine will probably not be enough to contain the disease, reported Ouest-France. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus indeed affirmed during the holding of the executive council of the WHO that the vaccines will have to be combined with the methods which are currently applied to slow down the spread of the disease. ” A vaccine will complement the other tools we have, not replace them “, did he declare. This means that a return to normal life is not yet possible in the near future.