In the early stages of vaccinations to fortify human defences against Sars-CoV-2 (the virus that causes Covid-19 disease), emerges the key question: Will vaccines eliminate Covid-19 completely?
The answer: It’s hard to say. 
For a perspective, only one human disease – smallpox – has been officially eradicated so far; that is, reduced to zero cases and kept there long-term without continuous intervention measures. 
Smallpox was stamped out thanks to a highly effective vaccine and the fact that humans are the only mammals that are naturally susceptible to infection with the variola virus that causes the disfiguring, sometimes deadly disease. 
In comparison, Sars-CoV-2 is thought to persist in horseshoe bats, and has been known to infect minks, cats, gorillas and other animals. Wiping out the virus would require banishing it from every susceptible species, which isn’t feasible. 
In countries that have successfully suppressed Covid-19 cases, disease elimination has been proposed instead.
Then, when will this pandemic end? 
Measured in vaccinations at the current pace, Bloomberg has built the biggest database of Covid-19 shots given around the world, with more than 119mn doses administered worldwide. 
With vaccinations happening more rapidly in richer countries than the rest of the globe, it will take the world as a whole seven years at the current pace to bring the virus spread to a halt, according to Bloomberg’s Vaccine Tracker.
Although international groups and a number of nations are promising to make vaccines affordable and accessible to all, doses will likely struggle to keep up with demand in a world of roughly 7.8bn people. 
As things stand now, it’ll take until 2024 to inoculate the world’s entire population, according to Adar Poonawalla, CEO of Serum Institute of India, the world’s largest vaccine maker. 
Also, none of the vaccines authorised in Western countries have been approved for children; those studies are currently underway. It means, as of now, children are now included in the population needed to be protected.
David Heymann, chair of the WHO’s Strategic and Technical Advisory Group for Infectious Hazards, warned at the end of 2020, “it appears the destiny of Sars-CoV-2 is to become endemic.” 
Some scientists have predicted that, once the endemic phase is reached and primary exposure to the virus is in childhood, Sars-CoV-2 may be no more virulent than the common cold.
For sure, there are silver linings. 
Covid won’t be a pandemic for “a lot longer” thanks to rapid progress in vaccine development, according to Anthony Fauci, the top US infectious disease official.
As of now, the best defence against the virus and its emerging variants is getting as many people vaccinated as quickly as possible, Fauci said on Monday.
And don’t let fears over variants stop you from getting a Covid shot, says England’s deputy chief medical officer Jonathan Van-Tam.
Make no mistake, the world’s long-drawn war against Covid-19 is still fought with lots of ifs and buts. But longer-term, the fight calls for such proactive measures as mass vaccinations as well as strict compliance with precautionary protocols stipulated by national health authorities.
At the individual level, here’s the straightforward equation in the fight against the pandemic: If you are not infected, you don’t infect others too.