GENEVA (Reuters) - The World Health Organization warned on Monday that, despite strong hopes for a vaccine, there might never be a “silver bullet” for COVID-19, and the road to normality would be long.
Amid the chaos of the pandemic’s early days, doctors who faced the first coronavirus onslaught reached across oceans and language barriers in an unprecedented effort to advise colleagues trying to save lives in the dark.
Researchers have long known that masks can prevent people from spreading airway germs to others — findings that have driven much of the conversation around these crucial accessories during the coronavirus pandemic.
As the coronavirus continues to spread rapidly throughout the U.S. and beyond, many are wondering: How on earth will this end? In an interview televised this week, President Trump reiterated his belief that sooner or later the virus will burn itself out. "I will be right eventually," the president told Fox News host Chris Wallace. "It's going to disappear, and I'll be right."
But scientists are increasingly of the view that this virus will not disappear. In interviews and correspondence with more than a dozen researchers around the world, NPR found that the vast majority believes the virus will persist at some level for a long time in places like the U.S. and Europe.
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates said Wednesday that people could need multiple doses of a potential coronavirus vaccine to immunize themselves from the coronavirus. If necessary, the multiple doses could require more than 7 billion vaccinations to be administered worldwide.
"None of the vaccines at this point appear like they'll work with a single dose," Gates said. "That was the hope at the very beginning."
The billionaire philanthropist, who has donated $300 million towards the global effort to combat COVID-19 through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, told "CBS Evening News" anchor and managing editor Norah O'Donnell that deploying a coronavirus vaccine will require a global effort.
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