Note: Hi, readers. What do you think of the word, vaxssiah? It occurred to me the other day when I listened to A/NBCBS News (all the news reports blend into one voice) saying over and over that when we have a vaccine, all will be OK. "Wait until there's a vaccine" is now a mantra, a Rosary prayer, the Amidah fervently lulling many to get through another day of quarantine.  Yes. Yes. The Vaxssiah will come down from heaven and rescue us. And those who refuse to accept the Vaxssiah will be heretics destined for hell. On earth....   Hush little Americans, hush now. Mamma will tuck us into a soft, feather bed with a glass of warm milk fresh from Bessie the cow.  Or maybe Kool-aid. Kim

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By Anne Dachel

The World Health Organization is out to scare everyone. The shutdown may never end and our only hope is for a vaccine for everyone.

Here is news coverage over the last several days that should have everyone concerned.

WHO's chief scientist, Soumya Swaminathan, warned that it “could take four to five years to get COVID-19 under control.” 

We have ‘one great hope’ for mankind to fight a virus that ‘may never go away,’ accord to the executive director of WHO Dr. Michael Ryan and that is ‘A HIGHLY EFFECTIVE VACCINE’ for every person on the planet. (Notice that the word SAFE wasn’t included in his dire warning.)

Dr. Ryan: It’s going to be “a long, long time” before we can return to normal. The risks are “still high” everywhere. It’s “public health disaster followed by economic disaster followed by public health disaster.”

COVID 19 could become “just another endemic virus.”

Ryan: “We do have one great hope. If we do find a highly effective vaccine that we can distribute to everyone that needs it in the world we may have a shot at eliminating this virus.

“That vaccine will have to be highly effective, it will have to be made available to everyone and we will have to use it.

Look at how U.S. News and Business Insider cover Dr. Ryan’s remarks. Notice that Business Insider makes “anti-vaxxers” into villains.

May 13, 2020, U.S. News: 'This Virus May Never Go Away,' WHO Says  https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2020-05-13/who-expert-says-world-has-long-long-way-to-go-in-covid-19-fight

The coronavirus that causes COVID-19 could become endemic like HIV, the World Health Organization said on Wednesday, warning against any attempt to predict how long it would keep circulating and calling for a "massive effort" to counter it.

"It is important to put this on the table: this virus may become just another endemic virus in our communities, and this virus may never go away," WHO emergencies expert Mike Ryan told an online briefing.

"I think it is important we are realistic and I don't think anyone can predict when this disease will disappear," he added. "I think there are no promises in this and there are no dates. This disease may settle into a long problem, or it may not be."

However, he said the world had some control over how it coped with the disease, although this would take a "massive effort" even if a vaccine was found -- a prospect he described as a "massive moonshot". …

WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus added: "The trajectory is in our hands, and it's everybody's business, and we should all contribute to stop this pandemic."

Ryan said "very significant control" of the virus was required in order to lower the assessment of risk, which he said remained high at the "national, regional and global levels". …

"We need to get into the mindset that it is going to take some time to come out of this pandemic," WHO epidemiologist Maria van Kerkhove told the briefing.

May 13, 2020, Business Insider: WHO: The coronavirus 'may never go away' if clusters of anti-vaxxers oppose a vaccine  https://www.businessinsider.com/who-coronavirus-may-never-go-away-vaccine-years-off-2020-5?r=US&IR=T

• The World Health Organization on Wednesday said no one "can predict when or if this disease will disappear," but said that a vaccine against the coronavirus is the "one great hope" at eliminating the virus.
• The WHO's Executive Director of Health Emergencies said that he's "cynical" that the world will muster the "will" to vaccinate against COVID-19, even if and when a vaccine is available.
• "We have some perfectly effective vaccines on this planet that we have not used effectively for diseases we could eliminate and eradicate, and we haven't done it," the WHO's Mike Ryan said. 
• In the absence of a vaccine, the WHO's chief scientist, Soumya Swaminathan, estimated it could take four to five years to get COVID-19 under control. 

…"I don't think anyone can predict when or if this disease will disappear," the WHO's Executive Director of Health Emergencies Mike Ryan said during a press conference on Wednesday.

"We do have one great hope, if we do find a highly effective vaccine that we can distribute to everyone who needs it in the world. We may have a shot at eliminating this virus. But that vaccine will have to be available. It'll have to be highly effective. It will have to be made available to everyone, and we will have to use it."

Ryan's curmudgeonly assessment came just hours after the WHO's chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan told the Financial Times that it may take "four to five" years to "control" the coronavirus, adding there is "no crystal ball" to know if things will get better or worse in this outbreak, or whether we'll be able to develop an effective vaccine at all.

Even getting a vaccine on the market, Ryan agreed, is still a "massive moonshot."

"This virus may never go away," he said.

Without a vaccine, it could take four to five years to control the COVID-19 outbreak

Most people in the world have not yet been exposed to COVID-19, which means the world is still in a very vulnerable spot. …

In the US, Dr. Anthony Fauci, who directs the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, where scientists are at work developing a COVID-19 vaccine, told members of the US Senate on Tuesday that a vaccine will certainly not be ready by the time university students head back to class this fall.

"Even at the top speed we're going, we don't see a vaccine playing in the ability of individuals to get back to school this term," Fauci said. 

"Forgive me if I'm cynical, but we have some perfectly effective vaccines on this planet that we have not used effectively"…

Only about half (53%) of US adults aged 35-44 said definitively that "Yes, I would get vaccinated" against COVID-19, if a vaccine were to become available, according to a Morning Consult poll taken earlier this month.

Likewise, the percentage of US adults who feel "very comfortable" with vaccinations is declining, and the share of people who say they're "not at all comfortable" with vaccines is on the rise, even since January, in the midst of this devastating pandemic, according to a CivicScience survey.

Anne Dachel is Media Editor for Age of Autism.