03-06-2020, 11:45 PM
** 06-Mar-2020 World View: Flu vaccine
The flu changes every year, so there's a new flu vaccine every year,
though work is being done on a "universal" flu vaccine. If the
Covid-19 vaccine does not work with Covid-21, then the crisis will
continue a lot longer.
When a Covid-19 vaccine becomes available, the first thing they'll do
is give it to health care givers, since they're on the front lines. A
vaccine will make contact tracing a lot more effective. Today, when
contact tracing is done for a Covid-19 patient, then the contacts will
be isolated or quarantined if they show symptoms, but if there are no
symptoms then nothing can be done.
But if a vaccine is available, then contact tracing becomes a lot more
effective, since the vaccine can be given even to asymptomatic people.
The experience of Ebola in eastern DRC is very educational. The Ebola
epidemic in west Africa in 2014-16 was disastrous, though it finally
burnt itself out. But by 2018 a vaccine was available, and that same
vaccine works with the strain of Ebola in eastern DRC.
What's amazing about the DRC situation is that it's an active war
zone, with ethnic groups attacking and killing each other -- and
sometimes attacking and killing medical NGOs -- on a daily basis. But
they gave the vaccine to vulnerable people in Uganda, so Ebola hasn't
spread there. And they've used the vaccine in conjunction with
contact tracing very effectively in eastern DRC, so they've done a
great job in preventing it from repeating the 2014-16 disaster.
So once a Covid-19 vaccine becomes available, hopefully early next
year, the Covid-19 pandemic will be controlled within a few weeks in
most developed countries, and within a few months in less developed
countries.
FishbellykanakaDude Wrote:> We have a "flu" vaccine too,.. well, not "too", as we don't yet
> have a vaccine for Covid-19.
> Vaccines don't seem to "eliminate" a disease, or do they? Why do
> we still have "flu"?
The flu changes every year, so there's a new flu vaccine every year,
though work is being done on a "universal" flu vaccine. If the
Covid-19 vaccine does not work with Covid-21, then the crisis will
continue a lot longer.
When a Covid-19 vaccine becomes available, the first thing they'll do
is give it to health care givers, since they're on the front lines. A
vaccine will make contact tracing a lot more effective. Today, when
contact tracing is done for a Covid-19 patient, then the contacts will
be isolated or quarantined if they show symptoms, but if there are no
symptoms then nothing can be done.
But if a vaccine is available, then contact tracing becomes a lot more
effective, since the vaccine can be given even to asymptomatic people.
The experience of Ebola in eastern DRC is very educational. The Ebola
epidemic in west Africa in 2014-16 was disastrous, though it finally
burnt itself out. But by 2018 a vaccine was available, and that same
vaccine works with the strain of Ebola in eastern DRC.
What's amazing about the DRC situation is that it's an active war
zone, with ethnic groups attacking and killing each other -- and
sometimes attacking and killing medical NGOs -- on a daily basis. But
they gave the vaccine to vulnerable people in Uganda, so Ebola hasn't
spread there. And they've used the vaccine in conjunction with
contact tracing very effectively in eastern DRC, so they've done a
great job in preventing it from repeating the 2014-16 disaster.
So once a Covid-19 vaccine becomes available, hopefully early next
year, the Covid-19 pandemic will be controlled within a few weeks in
most developed countries, and within a few months in less developed
countries.
