The COVID-19 pandemic seems like it could wind down to an end soon, with Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel now joining the growing list of experts that believe the Omicron variant could be the pandemic’s last stand.
Bancel told CNBC’s Squawk Box Asia that he is confident the next strain of the virus after Omicron will not be as virulent as the highly infectious, vaccine resistant, strain. The way the variant is currently running out of steam is also a positive sign going forward.
‘There’s an 80% chance that as Omicron evolves or [Covid] virus evolves, we are going to see less and less virulent viruses,’ he said.
‘I think we got lucky as a world that Omicron was not very virulent, but still are we see thousands of people dying every day around the planet because of Omicron.’
Moderna produces the second most popular vaccine in America, having been administered 206 million times since it first became available in December 2020.
The new strain was first discovered by South African officials in late-November and quickly took the world by storm. It caused Covid cases to spike in much of the western world, and infections in the U.S. rocketed to a record of 800,000 per day in mid-January.
Omicron quickly burned out and ran out of steam, though. Daily cases have cratered, down to 136,241 a day – down 43 percent over the past week and 83 percent from the winter surge’s peak.
Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel (pictured) is hopeful that the next Covid variant after Omicron will be less dangerous, and that the pandemic may soon end
Deaths have flattened as well, down six percent over the past week to 2,264 per day. Mortality figures from Omicron never reached the same heights as the Delta variant over summer, or the winter 2021 Covid surge, as the strain is more mild than previous versions of the virus and the U.S. population is now largely vaccinated.
Experts are hopeful that its high infection rate combined with the variant’s relatively mild nature spells the end of the pandemic coming soon.
The variant infected so many people that a large share of the global population now has natural immunity to it. Combine that group with the growing number of vaccinated people, and it the virus may run out of people to infect all together.
Some experts believe the ‘pandemic’ phase of Covid will be over by the end of the year and humans will be able to live alongside the virus the same way they already do with the flu.
Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, whose vaccine is Moderna’s biggest competitor in western markets, also believes that stage can be reached in the near future as long as Americans continue to get vaccinated and boosted.
This is already being reflected in the quickly falling cases across the U.S., the UK and many other European nations that were struck quickly by Omicron late last year.
Falling cases has many hoping that federal U.S. health officials will soon decide to drop all pandemic-related restrictions, just like the UK, Sweden, Norway, and other European nations with similar trends have also done.
Over the past two weeks, a slew of liberal leaning states made the choice to lift controversial mask mandates, including in schools – where forcing children to weak masks has become one of the nation’s most decisive issues.
Last week, northeastern states like Connecticut, Massachusetts and Delaware all set dates to lift school mask mandates in the coming weeks. States like Illinois, New Jersey and New York decided to lift mandates in indoor public places, but still require face coverings in schools. California, the nation’s most populous and arguably most liberal state, is reportedly planning to remove masks from schools as well.
Dr Scott Gottlieb, former chief of the Food and Drug Administration and current board member at Pfizer, told CNBC’s Squawk Box last week that lifting these mandates will be a relief to Americans after nearly two years of Covid, and allow for schools to reach ‘normalcy’ once again.
‘I don’t think it’s imprudent that governors lean forward, anticipating that conditions are going to continue to improve, recognizing that people are frayed,’ he said.
‘We have a narrow window of opportunity to restore some sense of normalcy to the schools.’
Federal leaders have been hesitant to change guidelines, though. Last week, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky affirmed that her agency still supports universal masking in schools and for people to wear face coverings in indoor public settings.
‘We owe it to our children to make sure that they can safely stay in school,’ she told WYPR.
President Joe Biden said last week that he stands by the CDC’s decision to leave mask guidance in place.
‘I’ve committed that I would follow the science as put forward by the CDC and federal people and I think it’s probably premature, but it’s, you know, it’s a tough call,’ he told NBC’s Lester Holt in a sit-down interview.
Tom Inglesby, a senior advisor to the White House’s Covid response reaffirmed the administrations commitment to masks in schools to CNN Wednesday morning.
‘Cloth masks are better than no masks. Surgical masks are better than cloth masks. So whatever mask is available and fits well for kids should be used,’ he said.
All of the 50 U.S. states are currently recording dropping daily Covid infections over the past two weeks.
