Covid-19 has been with us for 18 months. It seems another pandemic wave is upon us even though we have had the vaccines and implemented face-masking and social distance. It is time for us to look back for what we have done, what we achieved, how they worked and failed.
Since the pandemic started, we have partially implemented face masks and social distance with gradual and partial public acceptance. We also have vaccines, primarily mRNA-based in the U.S., with a fair bit of the population vaccinated. It seems vaccines helped us end the first pandemic peak.
Our tools to stop the pandemic include physical and immunological measures. The first consists of face masks, social distance, and quarantine of infected patients, and the second is vaccination of the population.
Covid-19 is an infection of our respiratory system. Virus-containing droplets from breathing and coughing will transmit the virus between people. Physical measures are the most effective against covid-19.
In China, covid-19 was controlled well without vaccines in 2020. The use of physical measures will block the transmission of the viruses, original or mutated. It will prevent people from contact and becoming infected with the virus. It will also lower the possibility of the mutation of the virus since the mutation will only happen when the virus duplicates in the host human. Therefore, stopping mutation is the most effective way to stop the pandemic.
The vaccine is an immunological agent. It contains similar or identical antigen(s) to the virus. It will stimulate our immune system to produce an immunoreaction to the antigen.
When the virus containing the same antigen enters our body, our immunoassays will quickly recognize it and launch an immunoreaction against the virus. It will prevent the virus from causing any significant damage to the body. However, the virus may still duplicate in a small amount. Therefore, the vaccine will not prevent the virus from entering and even infecting the human body. It will allow the immune system of the body to react quickly and lower the probability of the mutation of the virus.
In an unvaccinated patient, the immune system will respond slower and later. It will enable the virus to duplicate in large quantity and overwhelm the immune system, causing severe damage. It will allow the virus to mutate into a more pathogenic and contagious variant, which happened in India with Delta covid-19.
A vaccinated and infected individual will behave the same. However, the duplication of the virus in them may stop earlier; it can still produce a new variant. Therefore, face masks, social distance, and quarantine of infected individuals are the most definitive and effective measures to control the pandemic. Vaccination is supplementary, although important. In addition, the vaccines were based on covid-19 one year earlier and may not be effective for new variants.
In summary, face masks and social distance should be universally implemented for the safety and health of society and every one of us during this pandemic. It is far from over.
We should educate people repeatedly. The collective interest of the society should override individual interest.
In addition, vaccines will trigger immunoreaction of the body, which include fever, fatigue, and muscle aches. This is normal and not side effects. If anyone has those reactions, we should tell them, "Congratulations, you are blessed since your immune system is responding to the vaccine."
Jing Wang (BSC, MBA, MHA), who served an internship at Johnson Regional Medical Center in Clarksville, and Dai-yuan Wang, a practicing cardiologist, live in Russellville.