Frankfurt / Main (AP) – The Frankfurt virologist Sandra Ciesek does not expect a miracle drug against Covid-19 in 2021. “Personally, I don’t think that there will be a breakthrough in 2021. That there is a pill that you take at the beginning of the disease and that prevents you from getting seriously ill – I don’t believe that for the next year,” said the director of the institute for Medical Virology at the Frankfurt University Hospital of the German Press Agency.
The search for drugs will continue in 2021. “There is certainly still a lot to do,” said Ciesek. So far, the data are “disappointing”. There is also urgent need to research the long-term effects of the disease. “This is a big complex that we haven’t explored well enough,” said Ciesek. Nevertheless, Ciesek expects the pandemic situation to gradually improve in 2021. “I expect the situation to improve in early summer.” One reason is the start of vaccinations.
However, Ciesek warned against underestimating the time lag. “It’s not like vaccinating directly to avoid deaths,” she said. There are often “many, many weeks” between new infection and death in severe cases. She expects a decline in excess mortality “roughly estimated perhaps in March. Until then, the other measures will be our only weapon.”
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