SINGAPORE — At a recent media roundtable on the evolving landscape of respiratory disease management in the Asia Pacific region held in Singapore and organized by pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, Dr. Leong Hoe Nam, an infectious disease specialist at Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital, was quick to declare it is just a matter of time when the next COVID pandemic, with new and deadly mutation, breaks out.
“It’s a certainty – like life, death, and taxes,” Leong told reporters from half a dozen countries in the region.
“The virus is moving, adapting … It’s [for] the virus to decide [about mutation path],” Leong said, adding this requires regularly updating COVID-19 vaccines once a year
“After 180 days, the body forgets. Only 60 percent effectiveness [remains]. If you’re not taking a booster, you’re setting yourself for another COVID infection. COVID-19 was a lot worse than influenza – five times the risk of death,” he said, adding that while vaccines offer the first safety net, the second safety net can be found in oral antivirals.
From Taiwan, Prof. Yang Kuang-Yao, a professor at the Institute of Emergency and Critical Care Medicine, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taiwan, added the reason why a new pandemic will likely occur and the public should take it seriously is because COVID is relatively new.
“COVID is unlike influenza because it’s relatively new,” Yang told the roundtable, adding that COVID-19 is four years old to be exact, while influenza has been around for 10,000 years and humans had time and generations to adapt and deal with it.
Yang’s advice for an infected person is to get treatment early, within five days of being infected in order to avoid severe conditions.
Those at higher risk of severe COVID-19 outcomes include people aged 65 and older, people with heart conditions such as heart failure, those suffering from chronic lung conditions including asthma, people who smoke, those with cirrhosis, those with kidney conditions, HIV infections, pregnant women, those with Down’s syndrome, and people with obesity.
Leong added that 65 million people around the world suffer from long COVID, and taking antiviral medications can reduce long COVID risks. There could be a lost generation due to long COVID, Leong said. Common symptoms include mood swing, fatigue, sleep disorder, and headache.
Some complain of side effects from taking oral antivirals including bitterness of antiviral pills or developing diarrhea, but a senior Pfizer executive assured that just like any modern medicine, there is always a tradeoff, adding that there is no medicine which has no side effects.
Dr. Ruangwit Thamaree, senior medical office manager at Pfizer Thailand, told this writer on the phone Monday the next COVID pandemic could lie five to 10 years from now, but daily infections still occur today.
Ruangwit said the COVID figures are currently updated weekly in Thailand, but most likely underreported as counting is largely based on those infected and hospitalized.
“The government may not be paying much attention,” Ruangwit said, acknowledging what might best be described as COVID fatigue, where many members of the general public simply wanted to move on in life in the post-COVID era and forget about the difficult years of lock down and lack of vaccines.
According to the government’s COVID-19 Information Center on Monday, the week between Nov. 19 and 25 saw 480 new infections and two deaths. The total death figure since Jan. 1, 2023 is 823.
If there is a next pandemic, Ruangwit predicted, it would take less time to come up with a new vaccine – three months for DNA sequencing, another three to six months for trial period, and then hopefully a quick approval by the authorities on an emergency basis.
For the meantime, the physician suggested the public to use rubbing alcohol to clean their hands, wash hands often with soap, wear masks while being in a crowded indoor environment including on an airplane, and get a booster shot every four to five months.
“I hope there will be a campaign ahead of this holiday season to raise awareness,” Ruangwit added.
