COVID-19 Immunization Day: It Won’t Be Long Before We Can Hug Again

With recent advances in technology, the genetic blueprint of the Coronavirus was determined in record time, and novel strategies developed to produce new vaccines.

Safety
And what of risk? Are the vaccines safe? Most of us accept risk within reason. Each day, we make an effort to avoid unacceptable risk. We move indoors when a thunderstorm races across the sky. We check our clothes for ticks after a hike. If we have elevated blood pressure, we consider medications to lower the risk of stroke or heart attack. Even with the risk of side effects, the majority of us choose treatment over avoidance, action over inaction.

In the studies leading up to approval by the FDA, the Pfizer and Moderna vaccine safety records were good, not perfect. Minor side effects—local discomfort, muscle aching and low-grade fevers—were relatively common. By Christmas Eve, after more than a million Americans were immunized against COVID-19, reports of serious side effects have been extremely rare.

Looking Ahead
I think briefly about the challenges of malaria and HIV and the risk vs. benefits of vaccination as I draw up my next dose of vaccine. An older nurse sits down and rolls up her sleeve. A look of contentment spreads across her face. “It’s been 8 months since I’ve been able to see my mother,” she tells me. “She’s 94 and lives alone, and I’ve been terrified that I could be the person who infects her with the virus. I believe the vaccine will let us get back to the business of hugging. My mother needs that; I know I do.”

The line is long, but it’s moving along. 2021 will be a better year. It won’t be long before we can hug again.

Charles Radis, DO, is clinical professor of medicine at the University of New England, College of Osteopathic Medicine and employed part time at Maine Coast Memorial Hospital in Ellsworth, Maine. Contact him via e-mail [email protected] or on his website.

References

1. Burton DR. Advancing an HIV vaccine; advancing vaccinology. Nat Rev Immunol. 2019 Feb;19(2):77–78.
2. World malaria report 2019. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2019.
3. Draper SJ, Sack BK, King CR, et al. Malaria vaccines: Recent advances and new horizons. Cell Host Microbe. 2018 Jul 11;24(1):43–56.

Reprinted from the personal blog of Charles Radis, DO, with permission (https://doctorchuckradis.com/2020/12/27/its-immunization-day/?preview=true).