Is COVID Eradication a Pipe Dream?

Two scientists think we have a shot.

There was a time, not so long ago, when COVID was not a thing. Most of us have resigned ourselves to the idea that we will never again truly be free from SARS-CoV-2. Sure, we might get case rates down very low, or population immunity high enough that the illness becomes relatively mild, but it will always be there, appearing in our electronic health record test results along with the other endemic respiratory viruses — flu, parainfluenza, etc.

Eradication of COVID — the complete removal of the virus from the world, seems like a pipe dream. At least, it does to me. But not to Nick Wilson and his team from New Zealand, who have this piece appearing in BMJ Global health urging us all to consider a worldwide effort to eradicate COVID.

They are not just talking about elimination here — where you get case rates to zero in certain geographic areas, and remain ever-vigilant for the occasional outbreak which you react rapidly to — think of our approach to measles. They mean eradication. Gone — not existing worldwide. Think smallpox and…. That’s it.