Although the disease is still in a pandemic phase, the spread of the Omicron variant will turn Covid-19 into an endemic disease that humanity can learn to live with, the European regulator said on Tuesday January 11.
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has also expressed doubts about administering a fourth vaccine to the population, saying injecting repeated doses was not a "
sustainable
" strategy.
Read alsoCovid-19: more than 50% of Europeans affected by Omicron within 2 months, according to the WHO
“
Nobody knows exactly when we'll be at the end of the tunnel but we'll get there
,” said Marco Cavaleri, head of vaccine strategy at Amsterdam-based EMA.
“
With the increase in immunity in the population - and with Omicron there will be a lot of natural immunity in addition to vaccination - we will move quickly towards a scenario that will be closer to endemicity
,” added Marco. Cavaleri at a press conference.
But, he stressed, "
we must not forget that we are still in a pandemic
".
Slow down to the rhythm of the reminders
The European branch of the World Health Organization also noted that it was currently impossible to qualify the virus as endemic, such as influenza. “
We still have a virus that evolves quite quickly and poses new challenges. We are therefore certainly not at the point of being able to qualify it as endemic
, ”said the person in charge of emergency situations at WHO Europe, Catherine Smallwood. More than half of Europeans could be affected by the Omicron variant within two months in view of the current "
tidal wave
", according to WHO Europe.
The latter also warned that fighting the Covid-19 pandemic with booster doses of current vaccines was not a viable strategy, an opinion shared by the EMA. “
If we have a strategy where we give boosters every four months, we'll end up potentially having immune response issues
,” Cavaleri said. "
And secondly, there is of course the risk of the weariness of the population with the continuous administration of booster doses
," he added.
Instead, countries should start thinking about spacing out boosters at longer intervals and giving them in early winter, like the flu shot, he said.
Although Omicron appears to be more contagious than other variants, studies have shown a lower risk of being hospitalized after infection with this variant - estimated to be between one-third and one-half the risk with the Delta variant, according to the EMA. .