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Blog posts tagged with 'pandemic'

How and when will this Pandemic end?
The 1918 flu pandemic however ended without a vaccine. The same ingredient changed says Dr Short, herd immunity. It just took longer. The absence of a vaccine enabled the virus to go around unchecked until 1921. It eventually became a seasonal flu strain because there was enough herd immunity or pre-existing immunity. But achieving herd immunity came at an enormous cost without a vaccine. Tens of millions of people died worldwide writes Taylor. Despite all the advances in our health care system over the past hundred years, we still have had to fall back on the sorts of measures that were effective in 1918 and 19. This includes good nursing care for victims, quarantine, social isolation and basic measures like masks and sanitation. "Sometimes what we know from the past still turns out to be the most effective response that we have" says Dr Short. So how and when will this pandemic end? The search for a COVID-19 vaccine is inching closer to reality, with some going through clinical trials. But it's not like a switch will flip and the pandemic will end the moment a vaccine is available, says Dr Short. "There's not going to come a day where we say, 'OK, on [this date], this will no longer be a problem'. It's going to be a continuum." "What we should eventually see is that once we get vaccines out, the number of cases will go down. On top of that, therapies will improve and the mortality rate will go down. "It'll end with a fizzle instead of a bang."