There is another 'virus' we have to deal with, says vaccine expert Ian Frazer
If you want to take your guide from someone on how to handle the virus behind COVID-19, why not the world-famous immunologist Professor Ian Frazer?
This is an Australian of the Year who helped create the HPV vaccine that now saves millions of women from cervical cancer around the globe each year.
This world-famous scientist, whose has snared almost every big science prize, spends his days tutoring students, guiding research and overseeing new ways to reduce the savage burden waged by cancer.
And at a closed meeting of Sydney businessmen and women, he explained how he saw the unfolding mayhem.
Indeed, he told those at the talk that there were two viruses at play here: one was SARS-CoV-2, which causes the disease COVID-19; the other was panic and “the insanity surrounding it".
“We do not have nor will have anything practical to stop its spread probably for the next 6-12 months," he said.
That means no vaccine.
That means no drug.
By that stage, by Frazer's reckoning, the virus will have run its course – or it will still be hanging around, like a bad smell, targeting the elderly and those with poor immune systems.
Containment had to occur before the virus entered the country – and we now know that’s too late now.
Professor Frazer’s plea was for a fact-based public education campaign that did not involve fighting in the toilet paper aisles or stealing sanitiser out of someone else’s trolley or a media obsession bordering on hysteria.
In his view, we need to acknowledge that most of us will be exposed to it, and many, many, many will contract a mild version of it.
His point is that the spread of COVID-19 is inevitable, but not deadly.
