COVID-19: Elimination isn't 'going to be possible with this virus,' virologist says

Angela Rasmussen, a virologist and at the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization at the University of Saskatchewan, told Yahoo Finance Live that ending the COVID-19 pandemic isn't likely to end anytime soon. "Endemicity is what we're really talking about," she said. 

One reason COVID-19 may be here to stay is because of its ability to infect different animals. "I don't think that elimination is going to be possible with this virus. This virus infects a number of different animal species ... and even if every human being on the planet [were] vaccinated, there's still potentially susceptible hosts in the form of other animals that this virus could get into," Rasmussen said.

The threat of new variants — including ones that evade vaccines — lingers around the world.

The World Health Organization's director of emergency program, Dr. Mike Ryan, said as much at the World Economic Forum's virtual Davos event this year.