Some sources say Covid-19 is here for the long haul, and others suggest it will die down soon, even before a vaccine comes out, so what’s the deal? Here’s what scientists and health experts say.

The World Health Organization and experts are trying to predict when the vaccine will be available, which seems to be the main idea of how the pandemic will end. They predict the vaccine will be ready in the middle or late 2021. There are candidates for the vaccine all over the world to end this deadly pandemic, because it is unlikely that it will be eradicated.

According to a Ted-Ed video made by Alex Rosenthal, the best way to overcome the pandemic is to delay and slow the spread, to make time to create and spread around vaccines. They use this time to research the virus, test all kinds of people, and identify carriers. It also suggests that the virus may die down before a vaccine, however it may come up again in the future, so a vaccine is the safest route.

Even though it takes years to develop a vaccine, scientists and researchers are hoping to have one by mid-2021. This is about 12-18 months after the Coronavirus first appeared, which was in the December of 2019. It may be later than many may have hoped, but 12-18 months to develop a vaccine is already in itself much quicker than usual.

“The future will very much depend on how much social mixing resumes, and what kind of prevention we do,” said Joseph Wu, from an article by nature. He is a disease modeller at the University of Hong Kong.

There are about 170 possible vaccines for the virus, that are all from different countries in the world. There are three stages including a pre-clinical stage to approve a vaccine. Vaccines must follow higher safety standards because they are being given to healthy people. Out of these, there are a few vaccines in phase 3, which is good news.

To delay and vaccinate has been proven to be the safest and most effective way to overcome this virus, and there are some things that you can do to aid in stopping the spread. Wash your hands, wear a mask, social distance, stay away from large gatherings, and quarantine or get tested if you have symptoms. These repeated directions may seem old to you, but many hope in the time that the virus is delayed, a vaccine will emerge, so don’t overwhelm yourself with worry. You are already helping the world in slowing the spread.