“Corona parties” could become the new normal, argues the Cambridge immunologist

The new coronavirus can stay here, and so-called “corona parties”, parties where young people come together to become infected with the virus and gain group immunity, will usually be the new normal if the pandemic is not eradicated and an immunologist from the University of Cambridge, UK, quoted by the newspaper “The Guardian” is defending this Thursday.

Paul Lehner, a professor of medicine and immunology at the UK university, said the evolution of Covid-19 “will be similar to the four endemic coronaviruses that circulate” and cause colds. “Young people are either vaccinated or beaten – and young people generally do not get sick with this virus.”

“I will be optimistic and say that I do not think that this virus is so unusual that it is exterminating us or making us live in a strange or different way than we currently live,” emphasized the Cambridge- Professor in an event sponsored by the Science Media Center, where he defended that there should be “corona parties” to expose young people to the virus as their risk is low.

Paul Lehner’s position has been contested by other scientists who oppose the idea of ​​deliberately exposing young people to the coronavirus in order to gain group immunity. For David Heymann, professor of infectious diseases at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, “One scenario is that Sars-CoV2 becomes as endemic in humans as the other four coronaviruses, but we don’t yet know the long-term effects of an infection. , also among young and asymptomatic ”