Via CBC News: COVID-19 'will be with us forever,' says Dr. Janice Fitzgerald | CBC News.
Just over a year ago, Dr. Janice Fitzgerald was settling into a new job: interim chief medical officer of health for Newfoundland and Labrador.
And then COVID-19 happened.
A year later, Fitzgerald is guiding the province out of its second lockdown and through an accelerating vaccination phase that aims to get a shot into most residents by the end of June.
However, she cautions no one should expect the disease to be vanquished by summer.
"I think that COVID will be with us forever," Fitzgerald told CBC News.
"I don't think we're going to eradicate it. it's a sneaky little virus and it's been able to mutate — and that's what Mother Nature does."
COVID-19 could re-emerge seasonally
Fitzgerald said COVID-19 may emerge as a seasonal problem, like other viruses. She also pointed out that outbreaks can still occur of other diseases that long have had protection through vaccines.
"We vaccinate a lot of people against measles, but we still have measles circulating — not in our country, but in the world."
Fitzgerald said some countries have yet to begin vaccinating anybody, which is always a concern in a pandemic.
"This virus can circulate in those countries," she said. "That's why it's so important to make sure that on a global scale, we're all getting vaccinated."
