By Rodolfo A Trivisonno, MD
12/10/2020
What COVID19 has done to us
The COVID19 pandemic has been wreaking havoc with our lives for an entire year now. As a result of this COVID 19 pandemic, our lives have been turned upside down in every imaginable way. Nothing has been the same since January 2020—nothing has made our lives so miserable as COVID19. This pandemic has turned 2020 into one of the worst years in recorded history– not only for the United States–but for the entire world.
To today’s date, the COVID19 pandemic has killed over 297,173 Americans. And, right now, the number of detected infections in our country is about 16 million. We have over 200 thousand new detected cases a day for over a month now–a million every 5 days. It is calculated that for each detected case, there are at least 6 undetected cases in our communities. This means that some 88 million people out of a current population of 329 million are infected.
In other words, 20 percent of us—whether we know it or not carry the COVID19 virus in us right now. This means 1 of every 5 people you meet are infected–whether they have symptoms or not.
The problem in front of us now
Public health authorities predicted a second wave in the fall after the initial one. But they expected numbers to go down in the summer, which never happened. In fact, cases plateaued in the summer. Then, the US reported more COVID 19 cases in November than all other countries had in all year. The number of infected people in our country grew by over 4 million in a mere month. In the last few weeks, we have had daily record numbers of infections, hospitalizations–and death.
About 109,000 people are now hospitalized for severe COVID19 infection. As a result, many health care systems in our country are now on the verge of collapse. In practical terms, this means there are hospitals in some areas of the country that are about to start rejecting patients for not having enough beds, or enough intensive care (ICU) beds.
How we are heading into the winter
The world has now over 69.5 million people detected with COVID 19 infection and over 1.5 million dead. In the northern hemisphere, it is considered that–by the end of the winter–the number of deaths will have doubled if vaccines are not used in massive numbers on the general population. By March, at the current rate of 200 thousand new infections a day, the US will have over half a million people dead from COVID 19–even with the vaccination campaigns in place–assuming that people agree to be vaccinated.
Currently only 60 percent of Americans say they will take the vaccine when it becomes available. This number is not enough to achieve the numbers of herd immunity which are a minimum of 70 percent or higher. If people–for whatever reasons–do not follow through with vaccination recommendations those numbers may get to be much bigger.
What this virus robbed us of
This pandemic not only has taken away our health, our lives–and the lives and health of our loved ones—but it has also eroded our personal and national security. It has caused the biggest worldwide depression since the Great Depression of 1929. Within a mere year has made 20 percent of Americans jobless, a similar percentage homeless, and 54 million people to go hungry. This pandemic has bankrupted small businesses, entire industries, restaurants, sports and entertainment companies, and places of worship. Likewise, it has caused a trillion-dollar hole in our already gaping federal government deficit. And these expenses are not even beginning to palliate the disaster created by this invisible enemy.
Another trillion dollars must now be spent immediately to keep us afloat over the winter and congress cannot agree to do it before Christmas. These massive governmental expenses put a heavy financial burden–not just on us–but on our children and on future generations.
The only way out of this is universal vaccination
For all the reasons mentioned above, it is time to turn the tide around. And the only way to achieve this goal is through a massive vaccination campaign that must be accepted by the large majority of people in America and the rest of the world.
This campaign, of course, must be accompanied by strict adherence to social distancing, effective hygiene measures, and mask wearing by the entire population. These other established preventive measures should be applied even when the vaccines are in place and large numbers of people have already been vaccinated.
A brief history of vaccines
The first vaccine was developed by Edward Jenner in England in the mid-18th. The story goes that after observing that Cowpox infection seemed to protect humans against Smallpox (which was a very serious–and sometimes lethal disease–that decimated people in his time), Jenner inoculated an eight-year-old boy with cowpox matter from a blister on the hand of an English milkmaid. He attempted to “challenge” the cowpox inoculation by exposing the boy to smallpox material—but the boy never fell ill. Jenner had thereby demonstrated smallpox immunization.
The idea behind Jenner’s discovery was that by exposing yourself to a minor illness (such as Cowpox) you could be protected (become “immune”) to a major much more severe one, such as Smallpox. As a result of his pioneering work, smallpox was eradicated in the 20th century.
The origin of the word “vaccination,” as a result, comes from “vaccine,” which comes from Latin: “vaccinus,” from “vacca” “cow.” The name of this method of prevention is our homage to the animal that permitted the first process of artificial immunization in humans.
How vaccines work today
In the last three centuries since Jenner’s discovery, science has advanced immensely. This is particularly true of the last three decades with the development of computer-generated disease models and genetic engineering techniques in vaccine developing. In the past, we had to use dead viruses or attenuated viruses (“dumbed down” with radiation) for vaccines. Now, that is a thing of the past.
Today, we no longer even need to inject the virus to get a vaccine. As it is the case with the American COVID19 vaccines, we are now able to replicate a small part of the information in the virus that forms the spikes (hooks) on the capsule of the virus. These little molecules of “messenger RNA” that create the spikes act as “antigens” (promoters of the reaction of immunity that creates the body’s antibodies). So, we get the benefits of the vaccines now without even being infected at all by a virus!!!
This is a very important piece of information people considering vaccination must understand. These vaccines are not only safe–They are safer than the ones developed in the past.
Why this story matters here
It is important to understand Why we use vaccines and what they do. The “why” is simple:
1-When we take a vaccine, we take a very minor risk to prevent a major risk or death. Remember that in life no intervention is completely risk free. Every human action–but particularly every medical act–is predicated on a cost-benefit equation. There is no such a thing as an active medication that has no side effects. The question is how frequent, bothersome–and potentially serious–those side effects are.
2-The way the vaccines work is by teaching our bodies (training them) to fight a microbe ahead of time so that when they come into contact with them our bodies are ready to take them on and prevail.
3-The substance injected as a vaccine must be a molecule that is similar in some way to the invader but that cannot harm our bodies. The molecule injected allows for the “sparring” of our immune system for the day of “the prize fight” with the virus. As the Spanish saying goes: “A prepared in advance war kills less soldiers.
4-Once enough people have developed these antibodies in their bodies, which are the proteins that neutralize the virus, “herd immunity” is reached in the community.
5- “Herd immunity” means that 70 percent of the population has either had the infection and recovered, or has been vaccinated and is now immune to the infection and if exposed to the virus will not develop the illness.
6-Once herd immunity develops in enough numbers of people, the virus has no place to go and eventually dies.
7- With a virus this lethal, we cannot afford to reach herd immunity naturally because it will kill millions before we reach those numbers.
8-Our only way out of this pandemic is using the vaccines in massive numbers.
The major concerns about people’s attitudes toward vaccination
I am very concerned to see that many people are terrified at the idea of getting vaccinated with the COVID19 vaccine. The reasons for this fear are multiple. I want to emphasize that–even when this is a biological enemy we are facing–our victory over it depends on our psychology. It resides in our mental disposition to follow through with the recommendations of the public health authorities and in taking the vaccinations regimens they suggest.
Now we finally have the tools to turn the tide and enter the beginning of the end of the pandemic, but are we going to use them? And are we going to do it in a timely manner? Are we going to do with vaccines what we did with masks? How many more lives do we have to lose before we start behaving rationally in America???
Why are people so leery to get vaccinated?
This pandemic came over on all of us completely out of left field. Never in our wildest dreams did we expect a pandemic of this dimension happening to us in 2020. So, we reacted with sheer disbelief. Our disbelief led to immediate denial in many. And denial led to conspiracy theories.
This disbelief was fed even further by the attitude of our president and his entourage that minimized the risk posed by this virus for political purposes in a presidential election year. As a result of our president’s attitude, the COVID19 pandemic was politized in America. This blunder led the United States to become the one country suffering this pandemic’s effects the worst in terms of number of infections and deaths.
It is important to keep in mind that the same people that denied the importance of wearing masks and delayed the recommendations to wear them—are now going to be the same ones rejecting the vaccines. This attitude cannot be explained by any other means than sheer ignorance. This attitude of science rejection is based on not understanding how vaccines work, unfounded prejudicial attitudes–and campaigns of disinformation mounted by people with dark agendas–whose motives cannot be qualified otherwise as being downright psychotic or murderous.
The fact that this is a public health emergency and NOT a political issue or a massive conspiracy must always be born in mind when you think about how to proceed in this situation.
The fact that people’ distrust in government, institutions, corporations, and the media, has grown so badly in the last three decades does not help in these circumstances. Since the advent of the Internet and social media we are living in “a Brave New World” of crazy conspiracy theories. Today anyone today can go online and initiate a rumor that can become viralized and established as a new conspiracy theory. The bigger the lie, the more people will believe. And this is exactly what has been going on in these last months in our country in regards to COVID 19 and now in regards to vaccines. Both, from the extreme right and from the extreme left, conspiracy theorists have kept on hurling ridiculous–but very harmful ideas–at the American public about the risks of getting vaccinated.
The impact of drugs on the generalized state of paranoia in the US
Marijuana use–as well as stimulant use such as Methamphetamines and Adderall–have become widespread in the US in the last three decades. The use of these drugs has strongly contributed to an increase in paranoid ideation in millions of Americans. In my opinion, the widespread heavy marijuana and stimulant use, in the context of social distrust, politicization–and political and racial division–contributes to people accepting outlandish theories about the potential harmful effects of the COVID19 vaccines or the motives why–allegedly–they are being produced.
In the current context of social isolation and communication carried out through social media—trend-setters are powerful contributors to engender distrust in massive numbers of Americans. These fearmongers undermine any effort made by our government, scientists and health care workers to fight the COVID19 effectively. Of all those public health measures, the most resisted ones so far by Americans have been social distancing and mask wearing.
The challenge for people in America from now on will be accepting the COVIV19 vaccine in massive numbers; the kind of numbers required to beat the COVID19 once and for all.
The obstacles we face to have people accept vaccination
- There are people out there–pretending to be pundits–claiming that the government is “in cahoots” with Bill Gates. According to them, they would be “intending to insert a biological ‘microchip’ in people’s systems “to track them down” and “control them” from there through the COVID19 vaccine.
- Others have been fearing the COVID19 vaccines on the grounds that they “cannot be safe or well-tested since they had to be developed in such a hurry.” But these people forget that these vaccines have been tested on 45,000 people already and that we have never dealt with a pandemic of this dimension in the year 2020 with 21st century technology before. Moreover, they disregard the fact that we have never thrown billions of dollars invested by every government in the world to find an immediate solution to the problem all at the same time.
- Yet, others have been against vaccines for many years now. These “anti vaccines groups” are overrepresented by the extreme religious groups on one side, and by some extreme left-wing groups, on the other side of the political spectrum. The fictitious ideas these groups spread are now affecting a wide gamut of people in the mainstream with their scary claims about vaccines. For many years these groups have attributed the most disparate and harmful side effects to vaccines that go all the way from causing ADHD, to Autism, to mental retardation.
- For years, these anti vaccine groups have been adamant about their stance against vaccines. They have gone to the extremes of not vaccinating their children at all, putting them at risk of a myriad of illnesses and putting other children indirectly at risk too. They have not only refused to give them the regular vaccines but they will also oppose to consider the COVID19 now.
No amount of scientific data—or public health education, for that matter–refuting these unfounded claims have been able to convince these people of the safety of vaccines and of the importance of having their children vaccinated.
We are fighting two viruses at the same time in America now: The COVID19 and Ignorance
Fighting this virus and its consequences is hard enough from a medical standpoint. But the real battle against COVID will be fought and won in our minds. Now we have the effective tools to win. There are 6 vaccines already finished around the world and another 66 in the making. The most important ones for us here in the USA are the Pfizer-Bion-Tech and the Moderna ones developed in the US.
December 10th the FDA approved the Pfizer vaccine in the US. This is a huge step forward. Vaccinations are starting as we speak on health care personal and first responders. Then closely will follow older people in institutions and higher risk groups. In the upcoming months, the vaccines will be available to those over 65; and finally, around March or April for the general population.
Keep these tips in mind as you go get your vaccine, which I recommend you take as soon as they become available for your risk group:
· These vaccines have been tested on over 45 thousand people now.
· Nobody died from taking these vaccines.
· Nobody had serious reactions to these vaccines except for a couple of people presenting with acute allergic reactions.
· Allergic reactions can happen with any vaccine or medication. If people have a history of allergies to vaccines they should consult with their medical provider before proceeding to get their vaccine dose.
· More significant side effects occur in less than 5 percent of the people taking the vaccine. The side effects are mild.
· There were temporary side effects that are generally expected with most vaccines.
Common side effects were:
· Pain at the injection site
· Fatigue
· Headaches.
· Side effects are not common except for some pain at the injection site. On average 10 percent of people may experience minor side effects that go away within three days.
· These vaccines seem to have the same safety and side effect profile of other well-tested ones already in the market used for years for the treatment of the Flu (Influenza).
· There is no “chip” in them or any way in which anyone can manipulate you remotely.
· There are no “weird illnesses” attached to the vaccination. All there is to it if you get vaccinated is you will decrease by 90 percent the chances of getting the COVID19 infection. And if you get infected, you will probably develop a minor non-deadly form of the disease.
· By you getting vaccinated you will–not only be protecting yourself–but those around you in your household, in your family group, and in your community.
· The icing on the cake is that if we all do it, then we will reach herd immunity within the next few months and we will be able to celebrate our holidays like in the old times in 2021.
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And have a peaceful holiday season
Dr T