(An opinion from the desk of a struggling scientist, who struggles even more as a follower of Jesus Christ)
To be or not to be1…
JABBED –
That is the million dollar question faced by almost every adult individual in the current global event that we are experiencing.
More than a year has passed since the outbreak of a pandemic which has altered the lives of individuals from every walk of life in countries where covid-19 has hit.2,3 The all-encompassing health concern triggered the drafting of restrictions and regulations ranging from travel bans to lockdowns and even limited meet-ups with one’s own family and friends. This has caused a great emotional turmoil as the challenge of social distancing has put its toil upon the vulnerable. Unfortunately, not only are personal lives affected but relationships as well. A divided world population could not come into a unified approach to the problem. One faction puts its faith in the governments and health agencies responsible for the brainstorming and implementation of solutions, while another chooses to believe that there is a huge curtain waiting to be drawn for the revelation of conspirators in a staged event. Colleagues are divided. Friends are divided. Families are divided. And that’s not the end of it, for the divisions are not only on matters of opinion, but have gone deeper than the skin and have set to ruin relationships.
People await salvation. Salvation from the currently-placed restrictions and regulations with which we are all forced to live. Salvation from the emotional and mental stress which we are faced to cope with. Salvation from wrecked relationships. Salvation from possible lies. Salvation from the virus.
Since the publication of the genetic sequence of SARS-CoV-2, the corona virus that causes covid-19, there has been a race against time for the generation of a “miracle” that would end the “misery” – a vaccine.4 Within the past year, hundreds of vaccine candidates emerged from the accelerated efforts of the scientific community and pharmaceutical industry.5
What does this mean for us? Do the currently available vaccines now promise a salvation – an endpoint to the current situation?
All things considered, the immunization programs set forth by governments and health agencies could very well be one significant step of the still many steps leading to our coming back to normal when it comes to dealing with this current pandemic. I personally am so looking forward to breathing without something blocking my source of fresh air while in public spaces, once again. I am also hoping to be able to freely and spontaneously travel once more, wherever and whenever I want to.
However, we still have a long way to go. Although the vaccine developers reported success, safety and efficiency6,7, the currently available vaccines are not without any controversy. For instance, one has been reported to cause adverse events, such as anaphylaxis, which is a severe allergic reaction, after administration in 0.2% of those who received the vaccine.8 Still another vaccine has been reported to result to blood clots, leading to the suspension of its use in a number of countries.9,10
There are those who are confident that the vaccines are our road to salvation. All over the globe, millions of people opted to be vaccinated on the initial release of the vaccines in the market. Meanwhile, there are those who lack faith in the vaccines, and who are now currently being joined by more, due to the controversies which arose. In this regard, the one hope that could possibly bring forth a solution has divided the world anew.
I am not a vaccine developer, nor a virologist. I therefore do not claim authority in the opinions that I am raising in this article. However, I believe that my education that led to my profession as a molecular neurobiologist allows me a basic understanding of what goes on in vaccine development, approval for use, release in the market, and aftermath of administration.
Although new methods in vaccine process technology have emerged and contributed to faster production of safer and more efficacious vaccines11, in general, developing a new vaccine from scratch takes a considerable amount of time. Vaccine development undergoes a specific set of steps from design and discovery, pre-clinical and clinical trials of up to four phases including implementation.12 All these processes combined take multiple years, and all the efforts and years dedicated to the vaccine development do not necessarily or always lead to a rate of effectiveness that spells out disease eradication. In fact, there is only one vaccine which led to a complete eradication of a disease. But it took around 200 years for that to take place. It was in 1796 when Edward Jenner created the first successful vaccine which targeted small pox. However, it was not until the 1950’s that the vaccine administration began to bear fruits until the disease was eradicated by 1980.13
With that in mind, I cannot help to think about how the covid-19 vaccines available to combat the pandemic at this time, appear to be “microwaved”. Despite the fact that the severity of the pandemic paved the way for manufacturers and leading scientists to expedite the process of vaccine development, the possibility that they actually are not ready for release cannot be ruled out. I am definitely not anti-vaccine. I believe that if I am, I would be going against the things that I am working so hard for as a struggling scientist. In fact, just a couple of years ago, I have had a series of vaccinations against hepatitis because of my work that involves patient serum and tissue. I have also been ready sometime at the end of last year, to take the measles vaccine, if only an antibody titer test did not reveal that I have immunity against it since I had it as a child. With the experience I have in my own field of research where we struggle to find new therapeutics and methods to treat glioblastoma, which is the most aggressive type of brain tumor, patients enroll in clinical studies because of the threat against their lives that the cancer has already posed. In their minds, they have nothing to lose, but everything to gain, if it all works out in the end, to prolong their lives. Hence, I know that the problem we face with this current pandemic, and the restrictions and threat it has and continues to place in our society, is not any different. Due to that, it is understandable for us to do whatever it takes to solve it.
Nevertheless, this is also a time whereby we need to be reminded of the importance of the friendships and relationships we have forged within the years. So, if my opinions differ from yours, or if I have reservations concerning the vaccines, and you have full faith in them and embrace them with arms wide open, we should not resolve to cutting each other’s throats due to differences in opinion. We should know better than that. We should act better than that.
From the pen of Thomas Jefferson, we should be reminded,
“that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
We have the right to existence, to freedom, and the quest for contentment leading to one’s well-being. We have the right to an opinion. We even have a right to not have an opinion. We have every right to have ourselves vaccinated, or not be vaccinated. No one should be shamed or looked down on, or be threatened if they act and think differently from us.
In the long run, the question that we should dare to ask should not be whether one has faith in the vaccines, enough to go ahead and be jabbed, or not, but whether we have faith that all of this will come to an end. Not because of what men can do, but because of the hope that our God still sits on His throne and He is not sleeping. And in Him alone can we find salvation from that which we are currently facing.
References:
1. Shakespeare, W (1603) The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark.
2. Wu, F. et al (2020) A new coronavirus associated with human respiratory disease in China. Nature 579, 265–269.
3. El Zowalaty, M. and Järhult, J.D (2020) From SARS to covid-19: A previously unknown SARS- related coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) of pandemic potential infecting humans – Call for a One Health approach. One Health 9, 100124.
4. Wu, A. et al (2020)Genome composition and divergence of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) originating in China. Cell host & microbe 2(3), 325-328.
5. Thanh Le T. et al (2020) The covid-19 vaccine development landscape Nature Reviews Drug Discovery 19 (5): 305–06.
6. Walsh, E.E. et al (2020) Safety and Immunogenicity of Two RNA-Based Covid-19 Vaccine Candidates. N Engl J Med 383(25), 2439-2450.
7. Voysey, M. et al (2021) Safety and efficacy of the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine (AZD1222) against SARS-CoV-2: an interim analysis of four randomised controlled trials in Brazil, South Africa, and the UK. Lancet 397(10269), 99-111.
8. CDC COVID-19 Response Team; Food and Drug Administration. Allergic reactions including anaphylaxis after receipt of the first dose of Pfizer-BioNTech covid-19 vaccine (2021) MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 70(2), 46-51.
9. Feuer, W. and Miao, H (2021) CNBC Health and Science. https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/12/astrazeneca-covid-vaccine-who-says-its-investigating-reports-of-blood-clots-in-people-who-got-the-shots.html
10. D’Agata, C. and Reals, T. (2021) CBS News. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/astrazeneca-covid-vaccine-europe-countries-suspend-blood-clot-worries/
11. Josefsberg, J.O. and Buckland, B (2012) Vaccine process technology. Biotechnol Bioeng 109(6), 1443-60.
12. Rauch, S. et al. (2018) New Vaccine Technologies to Combat Outbreak Situations. Front Immunol 9,1963.
13. Riedel, S. (2005) Edward Jenner and the History of Smallpox and Vaccination. Baylor University Medical Center Proceedings 18(1), 21-25.
Simply Ellaine 