Part 2: Bridge The Pandemic “Fear-to-Faith” Gap

• Access to vaccine is deferred for those not in priority list or will only be until 2023 for poor countries. Don’t be unnecessarily frightened. The chance of dying due to cardiovascular diseases or cancer is still at least 5x higher than Covid-19!
• Have faith. The key is our immune system. It has to be strong to work well either with vaccine or naturally induced antigen. 
• Let us watch our thoughts. Our beliefs will ultimately determine if we will be strong or desperate in facing these challenges!

It is Lenten. Exercising our faith appears apt and is most needed during this pandemic. But no one is kidding how huge the menace has been. It is not because of Covid-19 itself but how it has been managed with greed and protectionism.

The vast majority of the world still do not have access to the jabs. Third world countries in particular are only expected to reach vaccine-induced herd immunity by the end of 2023.

Many still do not have access to the vaccine even in the developed world. They don’t because of the priority list. So how do we manage our fear while infections and variants are raging around us?

Faith in Governments… and Realities

World governments are trying to contain this pandemic from managing the socio-political impact to the economics of the COVAX initiative. They are forging alliances amongst government and other institutions in providing creative and equitable access to vaccines. 

Third world countries though will always be at a disadvantage. They cannot ink deals with pharmaceutical companies like Moderna, J&J, and AstraZeneca. These firms received sizable research funding from the US Government in exchange for priority delivery. 

It is reasonable to think that government institutions are trying their best for their people. But these efforts are of course impaired by politicians’ re-election optics. Worse, the experimentations on lockdowns, new type of vaccine, and social distancing are all delicate balancing acts with serious socio-political-economic consequences.

Understandably, citizens of all over the world are complaining on how their task forces are managing except perhaps for Israel, New Zealand and South Korea. We indeed need more competence in handling a crisis than simply relying on politicians’ best intention!

Faith… on what we have!

In the end, no matter what governments do, we may find ourselves at the end of our wits. No vaccine for us, our friends, and families foreseeably until the end of 2023. 

Or, we may belong to a large group who are concerned about the safety of the vaccine. So are we truly left with nothing? No.

What The Vaccine Does

Crazy but a lot of people think that the vaccine is the cure. It is not. It merely acts as a trigger. It is still our Immune System (IS) that heals us when it reacts properly to the antibody coming from the vaccine. 

What happens is, a vaccine merely gives our IS an advanced exposure to a particular virus in a weakened or reconfigured state. The same process happens when we are exposed to Covid 19 virus naturally.

So the main point is to have informed faith! We have a powerful IS that can combat not just Covid-19 but also the rest of a dizzying number of microbes!

A Different EUA (Excellent Use in Ages!)

Consider this in the magnitude of billions. The anti-pathogen army is in our blood – the white blood cells (WBC) to be exact. Adult blood contains at least 5000 wbc per microliter (a millionth) while babies about twice that. So we are talking about 25 billion of these fighting agents in our usual 5 liters of blood!

The IS in our birth came equipped with an inherited capability to combat pathogens that our parents and ancestors were earlier exposed to. Then as we grow and encounter new pathogens, our IS adapts and creates its own antibodies. If not, we would have died at birth given the thousands of germs we are exposed to on a daily basis.

Ratio wise, we are talking about one pathogen (such as Covid-19 and all its possible variants) versus the billions of the IS’s very intelligent and distinction capable cells.

Mutations and Records!

Strategically, our adaptive immune system learns and records these chemicals and structures for future protection and usage. If we have lived in our 20’s, then the complexity and power of our IS’s “artificial intelligence” has gone to the roof!

The mutations that cause variants and strains has always been the case with viruses. Actually, they say the influenza virus mutates faster than the Covid-19. But the new variants or strains are not necessarily stronger than the mother virus.

Moreover, viruses travel extensively around the globe on a regular basis. That is why we have the regular flu season… and the regular update of the flu vaccine by the pharmaceuticals. 

Survival Probabilities

Our historical chances of dying due to cardiovascular diseases or cancer is about 2 to 3 times more than due to respiratory illnesses such as that from influenza or Covid-19 viruses. So we should be more concerned of those two leading causes!

Moreover, the relative survival rate for cancer and cardiac arrest are lower than pneumonia in general or Covid-19 in particular. It appears that our immune system is doing a good job protecting ourselves from infectious diseases than us managing the first two non-infectious and lifestyle-related illnesses.

Ironically, the two leading causes of death may have been eradicated by now if we spent the same trillions of dollars and massive effort done for Covid-19!

Conclusion

We are all into this Covid-19 mess with all its other more fatal and more deaths implications. We have experienced massive businesses and work loss, food supply disruptions, depressions and suicides escalation, stunted learning of students, and ill-distribution of vaccines.

But let us not unnecessarily fear. We may not have access to the vaccines yet. But a healthy immune system gives us historically proven, highly intelligent, and powerful capability to shield us from any virus or pathogen! It is our best bet because a strong immune system works well with vaccine or naturally induced pathogens!

In the end, our lives, actions and sanity are driven by our deep-seated beliefs. So let us manage our faith (and fear) objectively. Let us be cheerful, nurture our health, and keep our faith strong in fighting this pandemic!

Featured Image source: https://www.biospace.com/article/equipping-the-immune-system-to-fight-against-covid-19/