'Covid parties' could become the norm, immunology expert says

Suggestion prompts warning that long-term effects of virus are not yet known

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Parties in which young people try to catch Covid-19 to gain immunity could become the norm if the virus is not eradicated, a Cambridge professor has suggested, prompting others to caution that the long-term effects of infection are not yet known.

Paul Lehner, professor of immunology and medicine at the University of Cambridge, told a briefing held by the Science Media Centre that the virus could be here to stay and that there might be Covid parties" for the young to expose them to coronavirus while their risk was low.