"How do pandemics end?" – lecture by Philippe Sansonetti on March 1 at the Collège de France

After two years of evolution, the COVID-19 pandemic is continuing its global progression. Successive waves are now supported by the emergence of genotypic variants of SARS-CoV-2. The increased transmissibility of the virus, but without an exacerbation in virulence, seems to indicate a virus-host coevolution profile and to sketch out a pandemic "road map." This adaptation will determine the future "exit" to the pandemic.

"Exit" is a euphemism that scarcely conceals our ignorance as to what an "end" to the COVID-19 pandemic might look like. Will it actually end?

What role will human intervention, especially vaccination, have played in its evolution? What unknowns remain despite the extraordinary scientific progress in a field that Charles Nicolle referred to as the "genius" of infectious diseases? Will we have to "learn to live" with SARS-CoV-2?

What does the history of major pandemics have to teach us about all these questions that are fraught with consequences in terms of health, economics, society, psychology and even geostrategy?
Does it enable us to determine a rational framework, an epistemology of pandemic finitude?

Philippe Sansonetti, Emeritus Professor of the Collège de France, former holder of the Chair in Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, will give a lecture entitled "How do pandemics end?" on March 1, 2022 at 6pm at the Collège de France and live on the Collège de France website.
 

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