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“Living†with Covid-19 has been talked about since the pandemic first began: A moment when the coronavirus disease becomes part of everyday life, rather than an overpowering wave of cases and deaths that overloads hospitals and triggers society-crushing lockdowns. This so-called “endemic†phase would see Covid-19 look more like influenza, with regular vaccine campaigns and a focus on primary care. Not eradicated, but managed.
It’s a moment that’s been getting tantalisingly close for much of the European Union, after several deadly rounds with Covid that claimed the lives of almost 1 million people and dealt a blow to the continent’s pride in its well-funded public-health system. Cities like Paris and Rome are swarming once again with workers, diners and revelers. Masks are dangling from wrists rather than noses. Nightclubs are now back open, albeit with new health checks. Politicians in the UK and France are talking up more individual responsibility and fewer top-down rules.
Yet it’s also becoming clear that living with Covid will remain an elusive goal without a renewed boost to pandemic management, a more urgent focus on expanding vaccinations and clearer signals for people to keep their guard up when it comes to social distancing.
The reopening of Europe’s major economies is starting to hit a speed bump as cases rebound, with hospitalisations on the rise in Spain and France and restrictions now tightening in Lisbon and Amsterdam. The more contagious delta variant is ripping through the continent, exposing gaping holes in a vaccination campaign that’s caught up with the US but still has a lot further to go.
The speed of the variant’s spread matters. Existing vaccines offer protection and are clearly a game-changer: About 53% of the EU’s population has received at least one dose, which may explain why Covid deaths are still in decline. Yet coverage drops off dramatically for the under-50s. In Spain and France, about 10% of those aged 25-49 are fully vaccinated, versus over 40% for those aged 50-59. And in France, worryingly, the over-70s have around 70% coverage, versus 100% in Spain.
The more urgent question for a Europe desperate to live with Covid has to be how to improve vaccine take-up, not which restrictions people should pick and choose. France’s top vaccine official Alain Fischer told Le Monde last week that the speed of the delta variant’s spread would require vaccinating 90% of adults in France, depending on the efficacy rates of jabs.
—Bloomberg