From Pandemicity to Endemicity: The Journey of SARS-CoV-2

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Jaffar A Al-Tawfiq, Johns Hopkins Aramco Healthcare; Dinh-Toi Chu, Vietnam National University Hanoi; Van-Thuan Hoang, Thai Binh University of Medicine and Pharmacy; Ziad Memish, Emory University
• Language: English
• Date: 2022-06-01
• Publisher: Springer Nature
• Publication Version: Final Published Version
• Copyright Statement: © The Author(s) 2022
• License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s44197-022-00046-4
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Journal of Epidemiology and Global Health
• Volume: 12
• Issue: 2
• Start Page: 147
• End Page: 149
• Grant/Funding Information: None.
• Keywords: COVID-19; Pandemics; SARS-CoV-2; Humans
• Research Categories: Health Sciences, Pharmacy; Health Sciences, Medicine and Surgery

Abstract

Since the emergence of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), scientists around the globe had raced to produce multiple effective vaccines using old and brand-new platforms. International regulatory agencies developed synchronized and expedited review and approval processes. These vaccines, in addition to natural immunity from infection had contributed to providing the needed immunity to prevent severe disease and mortality. However, the current vaccines do not seem to prevent asymptomatic or mild infection [1]. The contribution of asymptomatic infections to the pandemic was described at an early stage of the disease [2]. In the 2 ½ years’ time-span under the impact of different waves of this global pandemic, SARS-CoV-2 to date had infected an estimated 430,257,564 confirmed cases, including 5,922,047 deaths as reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) and a total of 10,407,359,583 vaccine doses had been given globally [3]. The ultimate hope is that SARS-CoV-2 with its continuous mutation will become less impactful and transform into an endemic state and the world would treat it as the common cold or annual seasonal influenza.