Covid: Introducing Covid-19 and the vaccine process
By: Shania Ali
The Coronavirus is claimed to be found in bats and first emerged in Wuhan, China due to the wide variety of the meat market located there. However, even though people have recently discovered the Coronavirus, it has actually been around for over 50 years. The Coronavirus is a single-stranded RNA virus and is highly diverse due to its susceptibility to mutation and recombination. It mainly affects humans and mammals.
Although the process of synthesizing vaccines is typically long, the pandemic has caused researchers and scientists to speed up the process and test the vaccines as fast as possible. There has been a great amount of clinical trials, and scientists have been working hard to make FDA-approved vaccines. As of right now, two vaccines have been approved: the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine and the Moderna vaccine. The Pfizer vaccine is made for people ages 16 and older and has a efficiency rate of 95%, while the Moderna vaccine is made for people ages 18 and older and has an efficiency rate of 94.1%. Both vaccines use mRNA, but the Pfizer vaccine requires two injections 21 days apart; the Moderna vaccine requires two injections 28 days apart.
Essentially, the mRNA used in the vaccine provides the cells with instructions to make an S protein, which is a spike-like structure on the surface of the Coronavirus. When one takes the vaccine, their cells will begin to make the S protein, and the immune system will eventually recognize the protein, consequently developing an antibody and immune response.
There are both benefits and risks to these vaccines due to time constraints, but some of the benefits include:
- Develops an antibody response and immunity within the body
- Possibility of the prevention of getting Covid-19
- Might keep the body from becoming seriously ill if Covid-19 is within the body
- Safer way to help build protection
- Important step towards ending this pandemic
Even though experts agree that the risks of getting Covid-19 are greater than the risks of getting vaccinated, we have to take into consideration that these vaccines are being made extremely fast while other vaccines have taken years, thus decreasing their chances of effectiveness. Little is known about the disease itself and why the virus affects each individual differently. However, experts still believe these vaccines are the safest way to gain immunity to stop the spread of the virus.
If one decides to take the vaccine, some common side effects may include:
- Fever
- Chills
- Tiredness
- Headaches
- Fatigue
- Muscle pain
- Joint pain
After getting vaccinated, the patient is likely to be monitored for about 15 minutes to see if they would have an immediate reaction. If not, then side effects most likely appear within three days after getting vaccinated and only last about one to two days. These side effects may also feel like the flu.
How Some Countries Almost Got Rid of COVID-19
By: Manisha Asrani
After COVID-19 spread across the world, taking only about 2.5 months (after it was introduced) to be labelled a global pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO), many countries jumped into action to help control the spread of the virus among their citizens. Now, nearly 9 months later, we can clearly see which countries still have work to do, and which countries were successful in their efforts. In this article, we will focus on those countries that were able to almost completely get rid of COVID-19, and how they were able to do so.
Perhaps the greatest success story is New Zealand, which has stopped local transmission and has a plan to completely eliminate the virus from its territory. When the Coronavirus first hit, many communication efforts were put forward in order to help explain the virus, including using a popular cartoon. In mid-March, as cases were exploding in Italy and Spain, New Zealand’s prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, ordered anyone entering New Zealand into quarantine. At that point, the country had confirmed just six cases. A few days later, on March 19, Ardern shut down travel to the country, essentially banning all foreigners from entering the island nation of 4.8 million. Plans were put forward to shut down schools, most businesses and domestic travel. Today, New Zealand has 2,144 coronavirus cases, and 25 deaths total, compared to the United States 19.2 million cases, and 333 thousand deaths.
Another country that was able to almost clear out COVID is Brunei. Brunei has succeeded in containing the coronavirus where many of its better-known Western counterparts have failed. Officials in Bandar Seri Begawan started by delaying the Coronavirus’s spread to the sultanate. In January, a press conference was arranged to report that the country had restricted travel from China and the epicenter of Hubei province. Further precautionary steps came in February, when flights were halted to Changsha, Haikou, Hangzhou, Nanning, and Shanghai and reduced flights were offered to Beijing and Hong Kong. The Health Ministry declared on March 17 that “any individual arriving in Brunei,” including a Bruneian coming from abroad, would have to “self-isolate” for two weeks or face a penalty of “imprisonment up to a period of 6 months, or a fine up to $10,000, or both.” In addition, Brunei banned Bruneians and foreigners alike from leaving the sultanate on March 15 in a bid to contain the coronavirus’ spread. Even religion fell within the scope of Bruneian officials’ attempts to stop the coronavirus. The Bruneian Health and Religious Affairs Ministries cooperated to close mosques across the country and sanitize several of them; the call to prayer continued over loudspeakers. The Bruneian Health Ministry also imposed limitations on mass gatherings such as weddings. Today, Brunei has had 152 coronavirus cases, and 3 deaths total.
A clear pattern shown between the countries that have been able to control the virus is masking, robust testing and tracing, and a consistent federal plan. The countries failing to curb their outbreaks are missing at least one of those elements.
Work Cited:
Covid: Introducing Covid-19 and the vaccine process
“COVID-19 and Your Health.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 11 Feb. 2020, www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/expect/after.html.
“COVID-19 Vaccines: Get the Facts.” Mayo Clinic, 24 Dec. 2020, www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/coronavirus/in-depth/coronavirus-vaccine/art-20484859.
Rath, Linda. “Coronavirus History.” WebMD, 24 Mar. 2020, www.webmd.com/lung/coronavirus-history.
“Coronaviruses – a General Introduction.” The Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine, 20 July 2020, www.cebm.net/covid-19/coronaviruses-a-general-introduction.
How Some Countries Almost Got Rid of COVID-19
Beaubien, Jason. “Some Countries Have Brought New Cases Down To Nearly Zero. How Did They Do It?” NPR, NPR, 27 May 2020, http://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/05/23/861577367/messaging-from-leaders-who-have-tamed-their-countrys-coronavirus-outbreaks.
“Countries Beating Covid-19.” EndCoronavirus.org, http://www.endcoronavirus.org/countries.
Editor, Devex. “COVID-19 – a Timeline of the Coronavirus Outbreak.” Devex, Devex, 19 Dec. 2020, http://www.devex.com/news/covid-19-a-timeline-of-the-coronavirus-outbreak-96396.
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