Here's Some Positive News Regarding the Pandemic

It has been nearly one year of the coronavirus being declared a worldwide pandemic. It has been a constant battle of trying to flatten the curve, and some countries have been hit harder than others. One main country that had a delayed response to the pandemic is the United States. It’s been a while since the country has gotten good news in the midst of a pandemic, but as of February, there have been some positive things that have happened, mainly being the fact that there is starting to be a downwards trend in cases, more people have received the vaccine, and there will soon be another vaccine that has to be approved by the FDA before it can be administered, and it only requires one dose.

According to the World Health Organization, there have been fewer infections around the world compared to previous weeks. Even though there are countries that have a rising amount of cases, overall, there is a downwards trend. But just because we have received this good news, it doesn’t mean that all is good once again. Now that there are different variations to the coronavirus, the vaccines are being less effective, which means that scientists will have to look into producing booster shots for the vaccines so that they will become stronger to fight the new mutations.

Around the world, more people are having access to vaccines but it hasn’t been as smooth as it was planned to be. In the United States, there have been 1.3 million vaccinations happening every single day. This is the key step for having a majority of the population to be protected from the virus by summer. If around the world the percentage of people being vaccinated increases, that is an extremely good thing and we will be able to return to some type of normal soon.

So far, the main vaccines that are being used to stop the spread of the virus are Pfizer’s and Moderna’s vaccines. Johnson and Johnson - a company that produces pharmaceutical products, medical appliances, as well as other goods- has developed another covid-19 vaccine. Their vaccine stands out from the others because it requires only one dose, and it has shown to be effective against severe cases of the virus. The approval of this vaccine in countries would be a very big step in making vaccines more accessible to people because it only requires one dose, and storing it will be easier compared to the other two vaccines.

Even with all of the positive news regarding the pandemic, we still must stay careful and cautious while out in public. We must wash our hands regularly, wear a mask, and socially distance to prevent the spread of the virus. It will take a long time for life to return to “normal”, and we must do all we can to help relieve the strain our medical frontline workers are facing under this pandemic. Even though cases are going down, deaths still are not and it will take a while for it to do so. The only way to bring the death toll lower is to stay safe in public so people won’t catch the virus, because anyone can be infected and need to be hospitalized with a severe case of covid-19. This pandemic is still not over, however much we wish that it would be. It is our job to help as much as we can. The more we do, the faster we can do what we once loved doing out in public again.

Until next time,

Keerthana

Sources:

1. https://www.usnews.com/news/world-report/articles/2021-02-01/who-decline-in-global-coronavirus-cases-shows-variants-can-be-controlled

2. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-55952899

3. https://www.jnj.com/johnson-johnson-announces-single-shot-janssen-covid-19-vaccine-candidate-met-primary-endpoints-in-interim-analysis-of-its-phase-3-ensemble-trial

4. https://news.sanfordhealth.org/coronavirus-disease-2019-covid-19/moderna-and-pfizer-vaccines-similarities-and-differences/

5. https://www.thompsoncoburn.com/insights/blogs/internet-law-twists-turns/post/2020-06-23/covid-19-crisis-news-environment-found-full-of-contradictions-and-concerns