A New Hope for The World: The Power of Medicine

By: Phillip Seo

After over nine months of prolonged suffering, isolation, death, economic collapse, and the discomfort everyone has felt, the world has finally reached a milestone in overcoming this pandemic. The world can anticipate the return of normality of hanging out with family and friends, being able to interact with people more closely without having to practice social distancing, and being able to go out without having to wear a mask. The world can look forward to recovering economically and restoring jobs. The world can finally start to adjust to functioning normally once again. The world has finally developed a vaccine to COVID-19.

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On December 2nd, Britain granted emergency authorization to start giving Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine to its people, making it the first country to inject its people with a coronavirus vaccine. Pfizer made medical history as it had the fastest vaccine development in medical history, which took less than a year to develop and finish its testing trials. Most vaccine development and trial processes take up to over 10 to 15 years, so Pfizer’s achievement represents a significant increase in speed and efficiency in vaccine developments across the medical landscape. 

On December 7th, Britain officially started its vaccination rollout and was on its way to ultimately defeating the COVID-19 pandemic. The day would be known as “V-Day” short for “Vaccine Day” to honor the remarkable milestone Britain has reached in their journey against the COVID-19 pandemic. The first person to get vaccinated with the Pfizer vaccine was 90 year old Margaret Keenan and as she was being administered the vaccine by a nurse, the entire world was watching closely in interest and anxiety to how she and the people of Britain would react to the Pfizer vaccine. As of currently, about more than half a million people have been vaccinated in Britain due to Prime Minister Boris Johnson working hard to ensure that all British citizens get vaccinated in a safe, quick, and efficient manner. 

In the United States, the pandemic has been a long and grueling journey for all Americans whether it was emotionally, physically, and even economically as over 320,000 Americans have had their lives stolen by the virus and the unemployment rate in the U.S. has increased to about 6.9%. Not to mention, the U.S. economy has been on fire for months now as it has been in a recession for quite some time now. Due to the incredible number of deaths and the severe economic collapse, there was extreme excitement from Americans when they heard that a vaccine had been fully developed. 

The U.S., along with the rest of the world, paid careful attention to Britain distributing the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine to the public and eventually on December 11th, the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) granted emergency authorization to use the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine as well. Sandra Lindsay, a nurse from New York, was the first person to take the Pfizer vaccine in the U.S. and encouraged other nurses and all Americans in general to take the vaccine, despite their anxieties and skepticisms about it. On December 19th, Vice President Mike Pence took the Pfizer vaccine on live television and on December 21st, President-elect Joe Biden took the first dosage of the Pfizer vaccine which helped to further alleviate Americans’ skepticisms about the vaccine. 

Although the Pfizer vaccine was the first and fastest vaccine to be developed and distributed worldwide, there has been another vaccine receiving worldwide attention and recognition for its effectiveness against the deadly COVID-19 virus: the Moderna coronavirus vaccine. 

The Moderna coronavirus vaccine is almost as effective as the Pfizer vaccine with a 94.1% efficacy rate and was co-developed by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. On December 18th, the U.S. was the first country to approve of the Moderna vaccine and grant emergency authorization to use it. On December 22nd, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Dr. Fauci, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, and NIH Director Francis Collins as well as other top government and health officials took the first dosage of the Moderna vaccine as well. Dr. Fauci and the other government and health officials wanted to get the vaccine publicly in order to be “a symbol to the rest of the country” so that Americans would feel more comfortable and confident in the vaccine’s effectiveness and be willing to take the vaccine themselves so the pandemic could end sooner. 

Other countries besides Britain and the U.S. have also taken initiative in trying to end the pandemic by ordering shipments of the Pfizer vaccine, the Moderna vaccine, a combination of both, or other variations of COVID-19 vaccines out there such as Switzerland, Malaysia, Bahrain, Canada, Mexico, Russia, China, and many other countries across the world. 

The world is so close to defeating this pandemic as there are multiple effective vaccines that have been developed. Many lives have been lost, but many more will be saved by the power of science and medical expertise. We can look forward to going out to places with family and friends again without having to practice social distancing and being able to live normally without having to be quarantined very soon. We can also look forward to not wearing masks and rebuilding our economy stronger than before. However, we are still in the midst of the pandemic and the war against COVID-19 is not over. Remember to still practice social distancing and to wear a mask when you go out to protect yourself and your loved ones from contracting COVID-19. Stay safe everyone and be patient as we are almost out of the darkness as we can live normally again very soon.