John Edmunds, a British epidemiologist on the government's Covid-19 advisory committee, warned UK lawmakers that there is very little chance of the coronavirus being eliminated. He said vaccines could slow its spread, however. "We are going to have to live with this virus for evermore. There is very little chance that it's going to become eradicated," Edmunds, a member of Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), said on Wednesday. He pointed out that the prospect of a vaccine towards the end of the winter could help the government's efforts. "If vaccines are just around the corner then, in my view, we should try and keep the incidence as low as we can now," he said. It was a "clever game" for the UK to invest in different coronavirus vaccines, he added, as the country has signed supply deals for six different kinds and secured 340 million doses. Health authorities are not going "to be vaccinating everybody," Edmunds said, but high risk people such as healthcare workers could