Vaccine for COVID-19: The Only TRUE Answer.

While social distancing is the best option that America and much of the world has right now regarding COVID-19, a universal vaccine is the only true answer for obtaining an end to all this madness. Currently there are 47 different programs to try and develop a vaccine. Moderna is the closest to reaching this goal. Moderna has developed an mRNA based vaccine for COVID-19 and is currently undergoing human trials that have started as of April. More recently Johnson and Johnson has come out to say they are starting to develop a vaccine and it will be used on a non-profit basis for pandemic emergencies. The company has said that it will begin human trials in September and may be available as of the beginning of 2021. The company has also devoted over one billion dollars in the development of this vaccine and hopes to distribute the vaccine quickly after manufacturing and testing is complete. Their stocks also increased by 8% after this announcement.

While this is great news, I am concerned about the fact that it still seems like a long time before there will be a safe, reliable, affordable, and easily acquired vaccine. I understand that it is extremely difficult to make a vaccine while keeping all of these factors in mind. As I understand it, the hardest part about creating this vaccine is not about the science, or getting the vaccine to safely work, it’s about this vaccine having the ability to jump through all the legislative and economic hoops in a timely manner. It is frustrating to me that legislative bodies have the impact they do on these vaccines because it presents enormous obstacles about money and patenting of the vaccine while people are continuously dying and getting sick. All of these factors are why I believe that it is imperative for people to practice social distancing for us to decrease the amount of people getting COVID-19 so researchers have ample time to reach their goals of creating a vaccine with as little death as possible.

I am getting extremely frustrated in my community because I know of friends and family that are refusing to abide by social distancing. It irritates me because I feel that many people are abiding by the advice of the CDC and others but the few that don’t are still making a significant impact on the spread of the virus. It is hard to know what to do as a person who is educated about this virus because people often get defensive when I try to explain the pertinence of all of our actions regarding this virus. People need to understand that just because there are not many cases in your immediate community, you can’t just go around acting like everything is normal when you could be an asymptomatic carrier and be a super spreader by your irresponsible actions. I understand that this is a particular problem within college-age groups and young adults because they are the least at risk and I am happy that many professionals have come out to directly target these age groups when discussing their responsibility to have concerns for public health. It will be interesting to see what comes of the vaccine in the next few months and how the progression of this virus will impact the world.