Expert: In The Future, We Will Live By Treating COVID-19 Like The Flu

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JAKARTA - Epidemiologist from the University of Indonesia (UI) Syahrizal Syarif said that in the future, life with COVID-19 will be like living with the flu along with increasing adaptability and handling the pandemic. "In the future, we will live by treating COVID-19 like the flu. Of course, after most of the population has been vaccinated," Syahrizal said when contacted by Antara, in Jakarta, Wednesday, August 25. Syahrizal said that what needs to be done now is that the government must provide access to vaccines for all residents, no longer 70 percent of the total population. He said that the immune system that is built up naturally after exposure to COVID-19 or obtained by vaccination is not permanent, it is not even able to protect itself 100 percent from the attack of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19. "However, the COVID-19 vaccination can reduce the rate of transmission, especially the rate of malignancy so that hospitalization rates and mortality rates will decrease, because giving vaccines into the body is useful for building immunity," he said.

By awakening the body's immune system, it can recognize and fight attacks from the SARS-CoV-2 virus so that the body does not immediately suffer from severe illness. According to Syahrizal, those who are allowed to carry out movements and social activities are those who have received at least one vaccination. Meanwhile, he hopes that the COVID-19 vaccination will soon reach the entire population of Indonesia in order to create a useful immune system at least to prevent someone who is infected from falling into a severe condition.