Covid will be a threat to the NHS for at least the next five years and testing and vaccines may be needed for a decade or longer, the government’s scientific advisers have said.
Documents released this afternoon show that ministers have been told that it will take “at least a further five years for Covid-19 to settle to a predictable endemic state” — where the virus lingers in the background but does not threaten to rapidly overwhelm the health system.
The report, which was prepared by the Spi-M panel of epidemic modellers before the emergence of the Omicron variant, adds that it is “highly likely that continuation of active management of SARS-CoV-2 will be required for the long-term. How much vaccination and boosters, and what
