I know a few things about vaccines. For over 10 years now, I have been working on different vaccines for different diseases. I am a life-long student of vaccinology.
Vaccinology is an extremely exciting field of microbiology, immunology, and infectious diseases covering vaccine development as well as the use of vaccines and their effects on public health and animal health.
I have been vaccinated with all the vaccines available except the vaccines for Ebola and COVID-19. Why not? Because it is not available for me in the country where I live at the moment. I have been getting my flu vaccine every year for the past 10 years now – that is why I know that the vaccines available are good for me; because I take them myself. If I am going to DR Congo or countries that had Ebola outbreaks in the past, I will definitely look for a travel clinic that can offer me an Ebola vaccine.
There have been lots of discussions on the COVID-19 vaccine and rightly so. The COVID-19 pandemic has completely changed our lives and it is understandable to ask questions about the vaccine. Let’s be clear – the COVID-19 vaccines are our generation’s moon landing – a triumph of science and technology.
Some people like to say that the vaccine was rushed. Let’s be honest, if the vaccine had taken three years to develop, the same people would also say it took too long to develop a vaccine. We have known about mRNA technology for decades. Scientists finally had the necessary support, funding, and inspiration to get it done, and for that, we should be thankful to all the scientists, physicians, clinical trial volunteers and show some respect.
Some people share unverified information on social media saying the vaccine “might” cause fertility problems. But if you died from the coronavirus, would fertility still be an issue for you? We have all seen what this nasty virus can do from people we know, friends, even family members who had COVID-19 and it is too much of an ever-present real threat to not do anything about it.
The vaccine’s benefits are greater than the known risks and theoretical risks of the vaccine. 90 percent effective at preventing infection is incredible and we fail to appreciate that. The injection site pain, chills, muscle pain, fever, which are completely normal and expected after vaccination are unpleasant but they are short-lived (24 to 48 hours).
All of these adverse events are still much better than what we have seen in people who have had COVID, especially those who were sick enough to be hospitalized. My only caveat here is if you have had a serious reaction to vaccines in the past, talk to your doctor before getting a vaccine.
Over 1,840,000 people have died globally in 2020 because of COVID-19. No one has died in the six months since people started receiving the COVID vaccines in the clinical trials and in actual immunization programs in the US, UK, Europe, Israel, Bahrain, and many other countries that have started vaccinating their healthcare workers and high-risk population (i.e. elderly).
To date, I have not heard of any benefits of getting the virus, have you?*
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Dr. Melvin Sanicas (@Vaccinologist) is a physician-scientist specializing in vaccines, infectious diseases, and global health.