Why vaccinating everyone on the planet may still not wipe out covid-19

By Michael Le Page

Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

VACCINE roll-out in a growing number of countries should eventually allow life to return to normal, but it is unlikely that we will be able to eradicate the coronavirus that causes covid-19 altogether.

“I don’t see that these vaccines will be eliminating SARS-CoV-2 any time in the coming years,” says Kingston Mills at Trinity College Dublin.

Despite the many variants, the coronavirus mutates less than many other viruses. “It does not seem to be as mutable a virus as influenza,” says Mills. That means we shouldn’t need to update vaccines every year, although occasional tweaks might be …