A vaccine will not be enough to end COVID 19
- sn pubs
- Oct 21, 2020
- 2 min read
A vaccine will not be enough to end this pandemic. Is it true? While COVID 19 still prevails in our society, many of us seem to have a sense of relief, knowing that soon enough, a vaccine will be produced, and all will be well. This is when research begins to prove otherwise and there are many reasons why this is so. Firstly, there is no guarantee that the vaccine will be found anytime soon although many samples are currently being tested. Most vaccines take many years to be made, sometimes even more than a decade. Currently, the record for the fastest development of a vaccine is the mumps vaccine which took 4 years. We must all realise that creating a vaccine is a tiring and sometimes frustrating job and scientists all over the world are trying their best. Secondly, the vaccine produced does not assure that whoever takes it will be cured forever. The vaccine’s immunity might only last a few years instead of a lifetime. In addition, its effectiveness may also vary for different age groups. Moreover, the vaccine might be able to prevent the most severe forms of covid 19, but not be able to cure the asymptomatic or those with milder forms of the virus, like cough and flu. Although these are just speculations, some of these may just be true. Thirdly, once a vaccine is formed, billions of people would have to be inoculated with it such that herd immunity is formed. This means that 60-90% of our population will need to take this vaccine so that the virus does not spread easily. The global population is about 7.7 billion and such a huge amount of the vaccine will have to be made before we reach herd immunity. In my opinion, I would have to agree with this statement. However, I think that each country is different and we should listen to our country’s leaders. I think that as long as we follow the rules, there is no need to feel paranoid about going out and mingling with others as long as we keep the safety measures at the back of our minds. Sources: https://www.vox.com/2020/6/3/21258841/coronavirus-vaccine-covid-19-testing-usa-china-moderna Hannah Quah 1 Grace
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