COVID-19 to stay but pandemic may end soon, says vaccinologist

COVID-19 will remain but the pandemic itself will probably soon, vaccinologist and recent The Outstanding Young Men of the Philippines awardee Dr. Melvin Sanicas has said.

In the latest episode of The Howie Severino Podcast, Sanicas said it was up to the people to define the acceptable levels of the risk of hospitalization and number of deaths.

"At the moment we call it the COVID-19 pandemic but I think COVID-19 will continue but 'yung pandemic itself will end, I don't know, probably this year or early next year," said Sanicas, who's based in Switzerland.

"'Yung definition kasi, sir, ng pandemic or when a pandemic will end, hindi naman talaga siya well-defined. And it depends on us, basically the people to define ano ba ang acceptable level of risk of hospitalization or acceptable level of deaths from this particular disease, 'di ba?" he added.

"But we are seeing talaga na if you compare to March 2020 noong wala pa tayong vaccines, wala pa tayong antivirals, hindi pa natin alam na steroids pala ay puwede rito sa COVID-19, compare that situation to now, malayung-malayo na talaga, sir," Sanicas said.

"I mean, we've passed that stage na kumbaga helpless tayo. 'Di ba nu'ng March-April 2020 at hindi natin alam ang gagawin," he added.

In this interview with journalist Howie Severino, Sanicas answers some of the most frequently asked questions and shares more of what we have learned thus far as regards COVID-19.

—NB, GMA News