WHO official cautions that even with vaccine, coronavirus 'may never go away'

Brazilian doctors who treat COVID-19 patients.
(Image credit: Silvio Avila/AFP via Getty Images)

Dr. Mike Ryan, head of the World Health Organization's health emergencies program, wants people to be aware that the coronavirus now sweeping across the world "may never go away."

"The virus may become just another endemic virus in our communities, and this virus may never go away," Ryan said Wednesday. "HIV has not gone away, but we've come to terms with the virus and we have found therapies and we have found the prevention methods, and people don't feel as scared as they did before." There is still so much to learn about the coronavirus, including whether those who get it become immune or resistant, and "the current number of people who've been infected is actually relatively low," Ryan said.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.