by Ajmal Sobhan 31 December 2021
On December 12th of 2019, the first cases of Covid 19(SARS-CoV-2) were reported in Wuhan Province of China. By February of 2020, the first case of the virus was detected in the US by a person who had recently returned from China. By early March the US had its first mortality from Covid 19. As time passed the US quickly took the lead in both the number of cases and deaths from the virus. While China, an authoritarian country, totally shut down its country, city by city where most infections occurred, and forbid any movement of its citizens other than essential workers, the US and European countries were slower and lockdowns came much later. The UK, Italy, and Spain started having a huge number of cases and the US continued leading the race in coronavirus cases and deaths. Soon after, with spectacular cooperation between the Federal Govt. and the Pharmaceutical Industry, the race was on to find a vaccine that would effectively neutralize Covid19. The two companies lead the race: Pfizer together with a lesser-known biotech company in Germany called BioNTech, and Moderna, a company which was not even 10 years old, out of Massachusetts. Worldwide, other vaccines started their push in the UK, China, India, and Russia. The case numbers and fatalities in the US kept on rising throughout early and middle of 2020. With some full lockdowns, partial ones, and social distancing, cases started trending down a bit. The resistance to lockdowns was fierce and each state either instituted more or far less restriction than others. In the process, in addition to deaths among the old, there were many deaths among hospital workers, including doctors, nurses, and paramedics, who were relatively young. One key reason was the scarcity of PPE’s( Personal protective equipment) . The hospital staff just did not have enough protection against the virus that they were working day and night to save their patients. Most hospitals were caught by surprise at the number of people requiring hospitalization and ventilators. Around the world, the situation was just as grim with some countries like Israel and New Zealand doing better( smaller size and stricter regulations). But other countries like Brazil doing very poorly due to blatant disregard of instituting social distancing and reckless messaging from the government.
Fast forward to November 2020, Pfizer and Moderna get emergency approval for the vaccine rollout. In the UK, Astra Zeneca also starts the vaccine rollout. Both the vaccines( Pfizer and Moderna) require two shots several weeks apart. In the early days, it was not so easy to get the vaccine. It was disorganized and there were age barriers and supply chain issues. But slowly and surely people started getting vaccinated. The third vaccine in the US, the J&J vaccine was a single dose and utilizes a vector virus as apposes to the Pfizer and Moderna which are mRNA ( messenger RNA ) vaccines, and does not use live virus of any kind. The beauty of all three vaccines, especially the first two, is that they have an efficacy of 95% of preventing a vaccinated person from getting Covid 19. This is a phenomenal success of modern medicine, involving thousands of scientists and pharmaceutical companies working at breakneck speed to come up with a vaccine. The need for the vaccine, due to its deadly nature, but preventing a failure in going too fast, was a calculated risk, but in the end, turned about to be a modern-day success story. At this time nearly 70% of the US population have been fully vaccinated and a good number had also received the booster. But the staggering number of deaths( close to 800,000) in the US is a sobering thought for all of us as we move forward with the new variant the Omicron.
The picture in the Subcontinent has been surprisingly milder. Other than a steep rise in India with the Delta variant, when many perished, the countries have done rather well. Even with low rates of vaccination, the overall hospitalization and fatalities, have been far lower than in the West. The explanation of low vaccination rate( though India has caught up well with vaccine rate) and lower mortality is baffling, to say the least. But one can only surmise that the average immunity among the Populus in South Asia is better than those in the West, as they eat, live, breathe bacteria and viruses, and they are used to living in close quarters which did not and could not have changed due to the virus.
To reflect on the last 18-19 months, one has to realize that many mistakes were made. The blame is not to be shouldered by one party alone: the government, the professionals, and we the citizens have to share this equally. We were unable to protect the most vulnerable, the aged, the compromised, and the poor. Thousands died in nursing homes and hospitals, due to lack of supply, lack of ICU beds, and ventilators. We fell into the trap of whether to value our freedom to choose, as opposed to heeding to sound medical advice. If one were to watch the television and social media, there was too much information and misinformation, there were too many experts and the average man had no way to discern who was truly correct. There were of course reasons to be skeptical of the vaccine: new technology, warped speed in manufacture, potential side effects now and into the future. These are valid reasons to be concerned but some of the stuff that was brewing in social media was so over the top, it is very hard to make sense of it. The fact of the matter is that the virus is still here and it will mutate as it is already doing( Delta and Omicron ).
There are several ways to get immunity from the virus: get infected or get the vaccine or get both. A person who has been infected and survives will have a good reservoir of antibodies. A person who has been vaccinated will also have antibodies against the virus. The choice of remaining unvaccinated, depending on natural immunity, is akin to driving a car with no seatbelts or airbags. Yes, the vaccine or the airbag will not save you 100% of the time but it will save you most of the time. If I am in a head-on collision, I want my seat belts on and airbags working. I may be badly hurt but I have a better chance of survival. The same goes for the vaccine: it provides one the protection one needs to fight something new. Depending on natural immunity or some antiviral agent is just not the same thing to do. As a matter of fact, we have already messed up our natural immunity due to the environment we live in: from climate-controlled houses to a car and offices with similar control. Most Americans and westerners do not spend enough time outdoors, living and breathing the fresh air, and getting enough sunshine( Vit D) . we depend more on medicine and supplements rather what we can and should get naturally. As we have been told by those who study pandemics, the epidemiologists, and the Infectious disease experts, this will not be the last one, there will be many after Covid 19. What can we do to make the world a better and safer place? For starters: if everyone is not safe, no one is safe. So it is crucial to vaccinate the world. The US is the richest country in the world, and it has more at stake as well having a moral responsibility to take the lead. It would take 50 billion dollars to vaccinate the world: the US should invest that kind of money. We should beseech big pharma to share its profits to help give the vaccine free to poorer nations.
It is incumbent on us to live healthier lives, not to live in a bubble, be in touch with nature, eat healthier food, be less dependent on our well being on medicine alone, but at the same time be vaccinated just as we did for Polio, Tetanus, Whooping caught and influenza. Our natural immunity can only get stronger with proper diet and exercise but when a deadly virus shows up, we need to take the vaccine. Yes, if one is infected, recovers, and takes the vaccine, he or she probably has the best chance. One who does not get vaccinated falls into the crosshairs of the virus. But given the choice, I would get vaccinated and not depend on my natural immunity. If there is one thing to be learned from the last 18 months: don’t believe all that comes on social media, mainstream news, or alternate news. Use your common sense, be discerning, listen to the real experts, the scientists, not some errant talk show host or a politician. I think as a nation we can do much better than we have done in the last 18 months. In order to do so, we need to take a deep breath, take a step back, have faith in science, and be very cognizant of our own health. At the end of the day, no vaccine, medicine, or faith healer will make us survive. Our survival depends on making the right decision for our body and our mind.