Science, Skepticism, & SARS Vaccine
Dear 20 somethings,
** This blog post is not in any way an attempt to persuade you to get the COVID-19 vaccination; this is simply my experience and my reason behind why I decided to get it**
So, I got the COVID-19 vaccination. I am not going to say that I was always pro COVID vaccine. I was at some point skeptical about taking it, said that I was just flat out never going to take it, and even suggested that this Coronavirus pandemic has been a part of some giant conspiracy. It was a tool that the government would use for its benefit, but mainly because I felt it was done too quickly, and the standard protocol for something like this was altered, which would result in a faulty and fatal vaccine. All of these, at some point, were my reality. Some of my friends and co-workers think that I am actually insane for going forward with it, but I would like to believe that I made the right decision. Here is an explanation to pretty much the main reason I was skeptical.
It was made fast as hell.
I have read so many different articles that suggest it takes a minimum of 5 years to create an effective vaccine. This vaccine only started human trials in July of 2020, July 27, to be exact. The FDA voted to allow the use of the Moderna (the vaccine I was given) on December 17, 2020, 143 days. It does not take a rocket scientist to tell that that is a ginormous difference in the typical time table. Like many other people, that was just too good to be true, but I started to do some research when the vaccine became available to me. I reached out to a friend who is in the medical field in New York City and had received the vaccine, what her thoughts were on it, and she sent over some articles. The deeper I got into the articles, the more I fell into the COVID vaccination explanation loophole. One of the articles (click here for article) that she sent laid out the information in question and answer format.
What I found
The FDA (Food and Drug Administration) can issue out what is called an Emergency Use Authorization, which allows the use of in the vaccine while the trials are ongoing, but they have to meet specific criteria. The FDA released these requirements in October 2020 (Click here for link). One of the criteria is the vaccination is at least 50% effective. Moderna's effective rate far exceeded that requirement with an effective rate of 94.5%.
Also, VRBPAC (Vaccine and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee) has experts who are not under the FDA to review the data before deciding on a EUA.
Operation Warp Speed, a partnership initiated by the U.S. government to expedite the creation and distribution of a vaccine for COVID-19 (Click here for their information) due to the global health crisis's urgency and sensitivity.
One of the reasons that this has been able to move so rapidly is the amount of money that has been invested and dedicated to the sole purpose of testing and finding a vaccine. This grants the ability to run more than one phase (The process consists of 3 phases) at a time instead of each of them separately. Devon Greyson, Ph.D. reassured that because they are being run simultaneously doesn't change the amount of time for each phase; it just means that data is being collected simultaneously. In other cases, they would have been run separately due to put plainly, money problems. (Also in the article linked in the bullet above)
Another benefit of the money that has been provided by the government, the research companies, have more access to more human subjects allows them to know quicker the responses to the vaccine. Some of the lengths of a process such as this are waiting for people to get sick to test the product, but since that was unfortunately not the case, it benefitted the process regarding time.
Lastly, because this is an mRNA vaccine (a vaccine that consists of a copy of the virus' genetic make that is presented in synthetic form to the immune system to provoke an immune response that will make the body fight the virus and gain immunity) instead of having to grow the vaccine in eggs or cell cultures (when the virus is produced in a controlled setting) when the genomic sequence of COVID came out in January experts were able to create the strands which in turn sped up the process even more.
This information is found in the first paragraph's first link; this information was reiterated on this blog post for quick facts purposes.
All of these scientific explanations helped ease my fears for the most part. I felt like I had to do this, and eventually, something I feel like we are all going to do at some point (I could be completely wrong). I work in the healthcare industry, and though it's not a line of work that puts me directly in contact with those who have tested positive daily; however, I am in contact with my client who is contact with other workers who is contact with more clients that could or could not possibly be positive for COVID. I have grandparents and a special needs sister who is with my grandparents most of the time, and I felt like it was just necessary. I'm still alive currently (lol), so I am hopeful and prayerful that there are not any terribly bad side effects from the vaccine. I have only taken one dose so far; the second and last dose will be given in 28 - 30 days. I feel normal, and as it stands right now, I think it was a good decision. I hope that if you're thinking about taking the vaccine and a little skeptical, this may help ease your fears.
