COVID-19 vaccines are hopeful signs
...but still be vigilant and careful
THE development and roll-out of the Pfizerbiontech vaccine against the coronavirus is certainly one of the most spectacular feats in medical history. In under a year, humankind was able to develop a vaccine against a virus that had proven to be a formidable enemy.
As the pandemic raged and started to kill hundreds of thousands of people the entire world cowered in fear in their homes as societies were locked down and the entire world economy came to a grinding halt. Seldom in the history of humankind has an unseen enemy like this wreaked such havoc.
We have had the bubonic plague and the 1918 pandemic, to name just two of the deadly maladies that have plagued us. Now it is the 2019 novel coronavirus. This time around, medical discoveries, especially in the area of vaccines, have given us greater ability to fight viruses and other pathogens. Last week in Britain, and last Monday in the United States, real hope was established as effective vaccines have been developed and administered. China and Russia have also rolled out vaccines, but their effectiveness has been questioned given the lack of transparency and the shroud of secrecy that have attended these efforts.
We can now breathe easier that, at last, we can see a light that our ordeal is coming to an end. We can now entertain greater optimism that our lives will return to some semblance of normalcy; although, for the most discerning, many things would have changed irrevocably by the devastation caused by the virus.
Immediately, problems still remain, the first of these being the continued dangers posed by COVID-19. While we rejoice at what vaccines can do, thousands of people are still being infected, threatened, and actual lockdowns of societies are taking place, with hospitalisation rates and attendant spikes in the number of people dying from the virus rising at alarming levels.
The bottom lline is that the virus is still with us and we cannot afford to relax our vigilance, even in the context of the hope held out by vaccines. There has to be renewed determination to observe the protocols that have served us well since March. If you get infected now there is no guarantee that the virus may not kill you before the new year. It will be some time before one can get vaccinated and for it to work its ‘magic’ on us. So, we have to be careful.
Even when the vaccine becomes available there will be some resistance towards taking it. Vaccines only work when people become vaccinated, but in this post-truth world in which we live an abundance of falsehoods, conspiracy theories, and myths exist. There is genuine fear among some people that the vaccine can be harmful, especially to black people. Some argue that they will not be the guinea pigs for this effort. And, of course,
The views expressed are not necessarily those of the Jamaica Observer.
there are the religious myths and fabrications which abound and which will drive many to the back of the line. Some may not even want to join a line, preferring instead to rely on an elusive belief in God’s goodness to magically protect them. And let us be clear, vaccines are not the work of the Antichrist!
This is all a testimony to what can be accomplished when human ingenuity is bent to the task of human survival. When taken, especially in the trial stages, they testify to human bravery in the face of great tragedy. This is something that God applauds.
Dr Raulston Nembhard is a priest, social commentator, and author of the book WEEP: Why President Donald J. Trump Does Not Deserve A Second Term.
1773: American colonists, dressed as Indians, dump 342 chests of tea overboard from a British ship in Boston Harbor, staging a protest against British taxation. The event becomes known as “The Boston Tea Party”.
Today is the 351st day of 2019. There are 15 days left in the year.
1809: Napoleon Bonaparte divorces Empress Josephine by an act of the French Senate.
1879: Transvaal Republic is proclaimed in what is now South Africa.
1884: Britain recognises the International Association of the Congo.
1944: German forces begin “Battle of the Bulge” in the Ardennes area of Belgium in
World War II.
1950: US President Harry Truman proclaims a national state of emergency in order to fight “communist imperialism”.
1956: The UN assumes control over most of the invaded sector of the Suez Canal Zone as Anglofrench troops continue their withdrawals under increased Egyptian harassment.
1960: A United Air Lines DC-8 and a TWA Super Constellation collide over New York City, killing 134 people.
1966: UN Security Council votes 11-0 to invoke economic sanctions against white minority government in Rhodesia.
1971: Pakistani troops surrender East Pakistan after a war with its rebels and their Indian allies. The territory soon becomes the independent nation of Bangladesh.
1972: US Apollo 17 spacecraft heads for Earth after the last US manned exploration of the Moon.
1990: Haitians elect populist priest Jean-bertrand Aristide in the country’s first fully democratic election.
1991: The UN General
Assembly rescinds its 1975 resolution equating Zionism with racism by a 111-25 vote.
1997: A UN team in
Afghanistan reports finding mass graves with the bodies of what are thought to be 2,000 Taliban soldiers captured by the northern alliance.
2001: After nine weeks of siege, Afghan tribal leaders claim victory over al-qaeda guerrillas at their last stronghold in Afghanistan. But Osama bin Laden’s whereabouts remain a mystery.
2002: The Canadian Security and Intelligence Service (CSIS) claims an al-qaeda terrorist network is operating in Canada. The statement follows the arrest of Mohammed Harkat, an Algerian immigrant who entered the country using a false Saudi Arabian passport in 1995.
2005: Hamas celebrates a landslide victory in key West
Bank towns, the strongest sign yet of the Islamic militant group’s growing political clout ahead of parliamentary elections.
2008: A splinter group of prominent African National Congress politicians launches a new party — Congress of the People — in the first major challenge to the movement since it took power nearly 15 years prior after toppling South Africa’s apartheid Government.
2009: Iran test fires an upgraded version of an advanced missile capable of hitting Israel and parts of Europe, an apparent show of strength aimed at discouraging attacks on its nuclear facilities.
2010: Wikileaks founder
Julian Assange is released on bail — confined to a supporter’s English estate but free to get back to work spilling US Government secrets on his website as he fights Sweden’s attempt to extradite him on allegations of rape and molestation.
2011: Alarming financial news flows out of Europe in a torrent, just a week after the European Union leaders strick a deal they think will contain the continent’s debt crisis.
2012: Japan’s conservative Liberal Democratic Party returns to power in a landslide election victory after three years in Opposition.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS
John Selden, English jurist (1584-1654); Jane Austen, English novelist (1775-1817); Sir Noel Coward, English dramatistcomposer (1899-1973); Margaret Mead, American anthropologist (1901-1978); Liv Ullmann, Norwegian actress (1938- ); Benny Andersson, Swedish musician-composer, former member of ABBA (1946- ); Benjamin Bratt, US actor (1963- )