[snowwrestler]

Smallpox is gone and polio is almost gone.

We have the technology to completely eradicate the 2019 novel coronavirus if we have the collective will to use it.

Other coronaviruses will evolve to infect humans, yes. We’ll never eradicate infectious disease in general. But we’re talking about one specific distinctive virus here. One for which we already have multiple effective vaccines.

[irq11]

Oh stop it.

Smallpox has exactly one host (us), had an amazingly effective vaccine, the virus doesn’t mutate quickly or spread as readily, and it still took almost 200 years to eradicate it.

Polio is NOT eradicated, it spreads only through contact with fecal matter, and the remaining areas where it is endemic make a great illustration of exactly why this virus isn’t going anywhere either: Afghanistan and Pakistan.

That you would suggest that either of these make an argument for eradication of a flu-like illness with multiple non-human hosts shows how detached from reality you have become.

[snowwrestler]

SARS-COV-2 is a single distinct virus with little variation. While it appears to be able to infect some domestic animals from human hosts, we have yet to find an animal reservoir. (If we had, that would be the end of the lab leak theory.)

And we have two vaccines against it with near 95% effectiveness, which compares with the estimated effectiveness of the smallpox vaccine.

If you want another point of comparison, look at measles. It’s not eradicated, but it’s not endemic either. In fact it is quite rare (far rarer than the flu) in counties with competent child vaccination programs.