We can and should trust the COVID- 19 vaccine
Ilike to shoot up. A vaccine or two that is. Over the past couple of years, I’ve been vaccinated for hepatitis A and B, meningitis, typhoid, measles, mumps and rubella ( make- up shot for one I missed as a kid), influenza, yellow fever, and tetanus. I don’t want a deadly disease for a souvenir when I travel abroad. I don’t want to pass it on either.
Not only do these vaccinations protect me and those around me from diseases, they help create community- level immunity that protects medically vulnerable people from infection. Vaccines are the most effective and safe method we have to fight deadly diseases.
That’s why I’ll be in line at the pharmacy when a Food and Drug Administration- approved vaccine for COVID- 19 is available. Unfortunately, only 46% of Coloradans share my enthusiasm. According to a recent Colorado Health Foundation poll, 46% of those surveyed said they were “very likely” to get vaccinated for
COVID- 19. Another 19% replied “somewhat likely.”
Some Americans are skeptical about the release of a COVID- 19 vaccine because they believe the expedited and politicized approval process might compromise its safety. Other Americans have lost faith in government institutions because of inconsistencies in reporting and arbitrary and costly pandemic mandates. The use of drones, narc lines, and tracking apps by some authorities has deepened suspicions and created fertile ground for conspiracy theories.
While skepticism is understandable, Americans need not place their faith in individuals who are the face of the pandemic response. They can trust the incentives faced by America’s medical research community. In addition to wanting to save lives, which is one of the main reasons people go into medicine, the research community and pharmaceutical industry have reputations and stock prices on the line. Nobody wants to be the next Theranos, the next Elizabeth Holmes. Secondly, vaccines must complete FDA required animal and human trials for safety and efficacy. As long as the data are transparent and available for analysis, critics and competitors can challenge it. No human endeavor is perfect, but good incentives help keep people honest.
We can trust the process. We must. A COVID- 19 vaccination is the only way to end the pandemic, save lives, and restore normalcy. Americans should volunteer with the same zeal they did for the polio vaccine.
Without widespread vaccination, COVID- 19 will continue to infect and kill people and negatively impact the economy and our way of life. “For COVID- 19, which has an estimated infection fatality ratio of 0.3– 1.3%, the cost of reaching herd immunity through natural infection would be very high, especially in the absence of improved patient management and without optimal shielding of individuals at risk of severe complications,” write researchers Arnaud Fontanet and Simon Cauchemez in the journal Nature Reviews Immunology.
Herd immunity for most infectious diseases occurs when 70 to 90 percent of the population has achieved immunity through immunization or infection. For a highly contagious disease like measles, 93 percent of the population must be immune to prevent an outbreak. The herd immunity threshold for COVID- 19 is likely to be lower. Fontanet and Cauchemez predict that achieving an optimistic herd immunity of 50 percent through infection alone will mean a half a million or more Americans will die in the process. In other words, without a vaccine there is no way to end the pandemic without an unacceptable loss of life.
Although I’m relatively young and in good health and am likely to survive COVID- 19 like several friends have, I pray for a vaccine. I will get that vaccine not just to spare myself the risk of COVID- 19 complications but for the sake of others who cannot afford such a risk.