Cookies help us deliver our services. By using our services, you agree to our use of cookies.

After Omicron, Should We Be Aiming at 'Zero Covid'?

Amesh Adalja, Agustina Vergara Cid

Presented at: New Ideal Live

Date: Jan 05, 2022

Two years into the pandemic, yet another Covid-19 variant has emerged. Some still advocate for government intervention and lockdowns in an effort to reach “covid-zero”, while others say this virus is destined to become endemic.

Should we be trying to eliminate Covid or is a different strategy needed? Join Agustina Vergara Cid as she interviews infectious disease expert Amesh Adalja about the Omicron wave, immunity, risk-assessment, and more.

Overview article available here

Among the topics covered:

  • What Omicron’s high transmissibility means for hospital capacity;
  • How government Covid policies have changed from the early months of the pandemic;
  • The problem with focusing on case numbers rather than hospitalizations and deaths;
  • The merit of a harm-reduction approach to Covid-19 versus an “abstinence only” approach;
  • Why the virus that causes Covid-19, unlike the measles virus, cannot be eliminated;
  • The effectiveness of the currently available vaccines against Omicron;
  • The benefits of vaccine boosters for different populations;
  • Whether measuring every patient hospitalized “with Covid” is a good indication of hospital capacity;
  • Omicron’s effect on children and the value of pediatric vaccination;
  • The next generation of Covid-19 vaccines;
  • The protection offered by natural immunity before and after the arrival of Omicron;
  • The merits of Paxlovid and other antiviral therapeutics;
  • What explains the unavailability of Covid-19 tests, and their effectiveness at detecting Omicron;
  • The validity of the CDC’s new recommended isolation period.

Mentioned in the discussion is Adalja’s article “‘Abstinence only’ approach to COVID failed in 2021 — missed opportunity for teaching harm reduction,” published in The Hill.

0:00:00 Introduction
0:00:46 Contagiousness and hospital capacity
0:03:23 Changing government Covid policies
0:06:23 Case numbers versus hospitalization, death
0:08:27 Harm-reduction versus "abstinence only"
0:17:16 Why Covid-19, unlike measles, can't be eliminated
0:20:27 Vaccine effectiveness against Omicron
0:28:13 Benefits of vaccine boosters
0:30:23 Measuring hospital capacity
0:32:44 Omicron and children
0:36:12 New Covid-19 vaccines
0:38:50 Natural immunity
0:42:25 Paxlovid and other antivirals
0:45:28 Covid-19 tests: availability, effectiveness
0:50:54 CDC's recommended isolation period

covid

Parts: 1

Handout: none

Publications: