key: cord-0722320-27ran1lv
authors: Rodewald, Lance E.
title: Forty and Twenty Years Ago and Now — Virus Elimination Successes and New Challenges
date: 2020-12-11
journal: China CDC Wkly
DOI: 10.46234/ccdcw2020.259
sha: 5d67b6ef18e0965c1ee5d1901477e0ce85345554
doc_id: 722320
cord_uid: 27ran1lv

nan

all COVID-19 vaccines -will almost certainly be able to also provide indirect protection by inducing population immunity and preventing infection and transmission. Only experience with the COVID-19 vaccines will tell for sure.

Vaccines may well represent part of the pathway out of the pandemic. The challenge is how to use the COVID-19 vaccines, along with non-pharmaceutical interventions, to prevent COVID-19 morbidity and mortality and to lower and ultimately end transmission. China's situation is different from many countries because there is almost no local virus transmission here. A key question, then, is how to best use the emerging vaccines to ease and eventually eliminate the need for non-pharmaceutical interventions in China -without losing control of the coronavirus when non-pharmaceutical interventions are gradually retired. Following up China's successful pandemic containment response, which was very highly rated by the Chinese public (5), with a smooth introduction of COVID-19 vaccines will be a major challenge -but a good challenge to have.

One last point. An important similarity between smallpox, polio, and COVID-19 prevention and control is that international collaboration and cooperation was, is, and always will be a fundamental necessity for control, elimination, and ultimately eradication of infectious diseases. Countries helping each other with data, knowledge, and vaccines and other technologies will make the world a far safer and healthier place. I believe that wise and collaborative use of COVID-19 vaccines will help turn the tide of this pandemic. doi: 10.46234/ccdcw2020.259

Submitted: December 07, 2020; Accepted: December 08, 2020

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