Every day we hear about a possible vaccine for Corona, but the experts warn: "The expectation of a vaccine within a year and a half is a science fiction."

• Work on Corona vaccine in Israel // Photo: Eyal Margolin-Ginny

The fight against the Corona virus is now at the forefront of human research and at the forefront of heads of state and leaders. However, in all the media noise on the subject, there is almost total disregard for one of the largest and most frightening elephants in the room: the question of what to do if a corona virus vaccine is not found?

This is not a particularly pessimistic scenario, one that is useless. This is because the AIDS virus was discovered by the world in 1984 when the US Secretary of Health announced that "in two years he will be vaccinated." It has been nearly 4 decades, 32 million dead and no end to research efforts and there is still no vaccine for the HIV virus. In AIDS, dengue fever does not yet have a vaccine, so a significant proportion of the viruses that attack the human respiratory system and even influenza disease need to be re-vaccinated every time to stop epidemics when the world fears a new flu will burst before it is vaccinated. We haven't been able to eradicate yet. 

Then the question arises as to how humanity will return to normal with the corona virus when there is no vaccine and when the virus goes wild. Who is facing the question at the CNN's request is Dr. David Navarro, professor of world health at Imperial College London and a senior envoy from the World Health Organization for Corona Fighting. "First, it should be noted that the corona is less variable than the AIDS virus or the effect of giving hope. But you have to know that this is not a fight in the machine, but a biological system out of our control. That is why it is important to know that there is no possibility of a vaccine for Corona and we will have to manage differently with the disease. "

Watching the vaccine in 18 months is almost a science fiction

Even if a vaccine is eventually found, many experts point out that reaching this stage in the fight against the corona virus will be slow and agonizing and that in the coming years, despite all the efforts of the scientific world, there will be no breakthrough. Dr. Peter Hotz of the US Tropical Disease Research Institute at Baylor explains, "Humanity has never found a contagious disease vaccine in 18 months. I'm not saying it's impossible, but in fact even when the whole world is investing huge efforts against the Corona, such a feat would be heroic Rare. That's why we must now talk about Plan B: how to live alongside the Corona. "

How do we get the world back to the Corona?

"The process we will go through with the corona in case no vaccine is found will be similar to the one we went through with AIDS. Initially AIDS was a death sentence for people and a whole generation of LGBT people just died. But over time, we found ways to manage the disease and allow people to live with it. Here too, there may be drugs that will reduce the damage of the corona, prevent or shorten long-term hospitalization and thus slowly learn to live with the disease, "explains pediatrician Dr. Paul Opitt, one of the researchers who found the vaccine for the rotten virus. Professor Keith Nile, emeritus professor of epidemiology and infectious disease at the University of Nottingham, also says: "The drugs that are now being tested are a good chance of relieving patients. I mean the anti-Ebola drug and other ideas. The thing is that it has come to the conclusion that the drug is labor-intensive right now. And even then, it may only shorten the disease or help some people. It's also a good thing because it will reduce the pressure on our health systems. "

How to sit in soccer stadiums and how to clean weddings and parties

"In case there is no cure for staying in the lock, no option, countries and the world can't stand it. We just have to get used to another reality and bring the world back to work when there is a new contract between citizens and countries. I'm talking about empowering personal responsibility. Whoever has the symptoms of illness will stay home until And will not come to his job, "says Professor Nile. "Whoever stays at home because of the virus will think of the hero, we must change the attitude of patients and also enhance the ability to work remotely. Beyond that, the world will have to help very poor countries to develop the possibility of working remotely or working. It will be a global struggle in managing the virus. That the ways to monitor patients and manage companies during a stable epidemic will increase, "Dr. Navarro adds. Dr. Peter Hutz also points out that in his opinion of proper supervision, mass sporting events and other reasons can be brought back in a controlled way. "If we can build a proper tracking mechanism to slow the spread of the epidemic every time it appears, then we can bring back sports events and eat in other restaurants and public places. Players can be monitored so we always know if they are healthy or sick, make stadium changes so there is a crowd It will be protected and less susceptible to infection. Restaurants and events will also simply create a greater range of distance between people. Furthermore, since the virus seems to prefer winter more than summer we can manage our events accordingly. "

And what about the herd immunity

Another notion of experts is the question of whether herd immunity, ie, a large infestation of the population to a level of 60-70 percent will produce a condition that can return to normalcy. Here they show that it is dangerous because the measles disease had herd immunity and every year from 2 to 3 million people still die from the disease despite the immunity until a vaccine for this disease is developed. In other words, the concept of herd immunity is a misleading concept in terms of the amount of victims. At the end of the interview at CNN, researchers are trying to encourage and say that "the human effort against the corona is so great that we expect a vaccine to be found. But don't expect it in 18 months to be too optimistic."