Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 2) – A former US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) official on Friday said COVID-19 is showing signs of endemicity, with panic now out of the equation.
“I think the panic has been taken out of the pandemic and that is one key indicator of an endemic. It’s going to be with us for a long time,” former US FDA associate commissioner Peter Pitts told CNN Philippines.
Pitts added that compared to the early months of the pandemic, the world is now “in control” of the coronavirus.
He cited as proof the updated vaccine boosters of Pfizer and Moderna, which was recently authorized for emergency use by the US FDA.
“It’s extremely important and it’s important not just for the US but the entire world,” he said.
Pitts explained that the new booster shots are bivalent, which means they are effective against the original COVID-19 strain and the more infectious Omicron variant and its subvariants.
Back in July, infectious diseases expert Dr. Edsel Salvaña said COVID-19 in the Philippines is already transitioning from pandemic to endemic as deaths and severe cases have started to go down.
However, the Department of Health previously warned that an endemic state does not mean COVID-19 is no longer dangerous, only that the number of cases and deaths due to the virus is already acceptable to society.
