Speed or Need?

                                                                    Speed or Need?

                                                                  By Aryan Mukherjee

     Covid-19- A pandemic that has brushed all of our lives instrumentally, and has driven our country into a parlous situation unseen of since the Spanish flu of nearly 100 years ago. Our current president, Donald Trump, claims that we are just around the corner from getting the vaccine for this virus, but prestiged scientists think otherwise. With both the potency and the speed of delivery at stake, drug companies competing to be the first to deliver this vaccine impart that they will put it in their best interests to deliver a vaccination that gets the job done well, no matter how long it takes. The contradictions in what these companies say and do ushers another question to mind- Which takes precedence? The speed in which the vaccine is delivered or the 100% guarantee that the vaccine will work?

     Two pivotal companies, Moderna and Pfizer, are closest in proximity to securing a vaccine. They plan on creating this vaccine in a way that has never been tested before, utilizing the use of RNA genetic molecules to construct a protein, with the likes of hopefully boosting a person’s immune system. After a different variant of this vaccine has been created, it enters a makeshift for previous antidotes and strictly follows under a set of four procedures. Once the FDA(food and drug administration) has approved the vaccine for at least a 50% effective rate, the FDA eventually licenses a release of the vaccine into the public. Though 50% might not seem like enough, the symptoms and hazard level for this virus is widespread, and if the majority of the results will vary from person to person. With 50% of the vaccine running, approximately 50% of the deaths and cases can subsequently diminish too.

     The first stages of testing the effectiveness of the vaccine are the preclinical ones. In these stages, rodents such as mice and gerbils with similar side effects as humans are injected with the vaccine, and the results of this preliminary state are recorded and analyzed. Moving on to the first major stage, a handful of volunteers are given the vaccine, and are watched like a hawk to sniff out undesirable side effects. If this stage is cleared, the vaccine is handed to a large group of people, a couple hundred at most, and this is where scientists can clearly distinguish whether or not the vaccine is providing different results for people of different genders, ages and races. If things go southwards here, the companies go back to the drawing board. Finally, the last and arguably the most important stage arrives- phase 3, a landmark for scientists to touch upon. This is where 10,000 people are given the vaccine and 10,000 people are given a fake, harmless pill. No participant is told which drug was administered into them, avoiding bias and wielding the best possible results. If this stage is cleared with a passing grade of 50% effectiveness by the FDA, the vaccine releases into the public. 

     With such a lengthy and tedious process, it is no wonder the vaccine hasn’t arrived yet. A typical vaccine takes years to make, and this one is being manufactured in just a fraction of that time. If one of the phases is removed, the vaccine can arrive much faster, saving thousands of lives in the process. However, on the off chance that something goes wrong, many, many more lives will be lost on the empty words of hope that the president delivers to our nation. For this reason and this reason alone, I believe that no matter how long it takes, we should wait for this vaccine to be delivered in the safest and most effective way possible. Though it is true that the death toll rises by the minute and these unprecedented times scare us all, if we just wait things out, I truly believe that we will get through this virus and end up on the better side of it all.