The Race for a Vaccine

 What if an American vaccine proves to be the most effective vaccine on the planet?

For the past nine months, the novel coronavirus has ravaged the United States. This is partly due to its novel nature and lack of knowledge on treatment and prevention, but also due to the late action taken by president Trump and the selfish nature of Americans and their refusal to take the pandemic seriously. These factors have led to the United States to currently have the most cases of coronavirus. Luckily, vaccines made by American companies Pfizer and Moderna are looking promising. Late trial phases have revealed high efficiency.

However, the United States is not the only nation to face a spike in cases of coronavirus. High amounts of cases are currently being seen in India, Brazil, and most European countries. How will these countries be affected if the American vaccine proves to be the most effective? Because Donald Trump has rejected the COVAX initiative to provide equitable global vaccination, these countries may not receive the best vaccine early on.

While I think that it is very important for Americans to receive the vaccine- as cases are the highest here of all the countries and most people are fed up with quarantines and are no longer taking precautions- it is important to provide help to other countries in an attempt to eliminate the virus all at once. If vaccinations are only delivered to countries after the United States has been vaccinated, the pandemic will carry on longer than if the vaccine is distributed. It is also confusing to me that Trump does not wish to participate in COVAX and share the American vaccine, yet the outspoken majority of his supporters do not wish to receive a vaccine.

Something I find rather comical is that the US government is concerned with China potentially discovering a vaccine first. The primary concern is that China will not want to share the technology that allowed them to make the vaccine. Seemingly, Trump will be upset if China does not share its vaccine and technology if their vaccine is better than the American vaccine, yet has no intention of sharing the American vaccine if the roles were reversed.

The race to a vaccine between China and the United States is intense, as the winner will likely be credited with restoration of the global economy. 

As a US citizen who wishes to return to pre-pandemic life as quickly (yet safely) as possible, I do not care who is credited with the restoration of the global economy. I am more concerned with the restoration of normal and quality life.

COVID Vaccines and Global Cooperation

Recent news has brought promising results of the COVID-19 vaccines. Both Pfizer and Moderna have produced highly efficient mRNA vaccines. Pfizer's vaccine has a 90% efficacy and Moderna's has 95% efficacy. The use of an mRNA vaccine allows people to be injected with a protein template instead of actual coronavirus. The protein template can be translated by the body's cells and produce the spike proteins that coat the virus. Once these are produced, the body's leukocytes can begin to recognize the proteins and produce antibodies against them. This way, if a vaccinated person becomes infected with COVID-19, their body has stored immune cells that will be able to more quickly recognize and fight the virus than if they were not vaccinated.

While the news about the vaccines are promising, there are still several steps that must be taken before they are ready for distribution: trials must finish and global cooperation must occur.

Assuming that the remaining vaccine trials go smoothly, there is lots of global production that must occur in order to make the vaccines available to all. Some vaccines require storage at extremely cold temperatures up until the point of injection. This poses several problems: lack of freezers and space for the freezers, lack of dry ice, and the need for glass that will not crack under cold temperatures. The vaccines must be kept cold during transportation and while in storage waiting to be injected. Keeping a vaccine cold on an overseas flight may possibly put the flight crew at risk, as melting dry ice creates copious amount of carbon dioxide byproduct, which may be harmful to crew. Grants have been given to companies who produce glass that withstands the deep cold; this glass has a different formula than other glasses, as it excludes elements that contribute to its fragility.

Even if the problems of transportation and storage of the vaccine are solved, distribution of the vaccine must be decided. Many country leaders are strong nationalists and would only allow distribution to their citizens. This prevents impoverished countries from receiving vaccinations as power-hungry leaders block their access. The AstraZeneca vaccine being produced in India has already had its fate decided if it is effective. The lead producer of the vaccine has stated that half of the produced doses will be used on Indian citizens, and the other half of the doses will be distributed to the rest of the world, with priority going to countries living in poverty. The production of some vaccines, such as CanSinoBio, is restricted for use only in China. Russia is developing a similar vaccine only available to Russians.

While news may be promising about a vaccine for the coronavirus, there are many supply and cooperation factors needed to make the vaccine globally accessible.

One Semester Later

As the semester comes to a close, I cannot help but think back on the journey it has been and how my experience has been wildly different from other semesters. I honestly never imagined that students would still be on campus the weekend before Thanksgiving or that I would be able to do my schoolwork from my favorite cubicle in Willy T. 

Not a single aspect of my life this semester has been similar to my past 6 semesters as a UK student. The entirety of my classes were taught virtually (with the exception of a lab that was in person every other week- and even this class ended up moving online). I have spent less time in the library this semester simply because of my cleanliness preferences- I use Clorox wipes to clean the table and chair before I sit down to do my work and there's too big of a shortage on disinfectant wipes to go the library on a daily basis. I have struggled to find motivation to do my schoolwork, as many professors have been kind and given us flexible due dates for assignments. I often let my work pile up until the end of the week and do it all Sunday afternoon. Not having in person classes has completely thrown me off, as I don't adhere to a strict schedule, which I believe is largely to blame for my lack of motivation. 

COVID has contributed greatly to my stress levels. I am constantly doing my best to avoid putting myself in a situation that would expose me to COVID, but that isn't always enough. Other students on the campus have not been shy in sharing their party attendance to their social media platforms. Seeing this really upsets me because while some students are doing their best to prevent the spread of coronavirus, others simply do not care about the health and wellbeing of others. I have definitely feared interacting with someone who is the opposite of me and parties frequently. I even fear that my small group of friends that I see occasionally will be exposed by an encounter with someone who parties and is exposed to large amounts of different people on a daily basis. This stress has not been good for my health and has driven me to become even more of a hermit than I already was.

As I seek admissions to medical school, the application process has also looked different. Schools must conduct interviews online, eliminating face-to-face interactions and preventing a true impression on interviewers. Some schools have chosen to utilize a second interview source where students record themselves answering questions that demonstrate their competencies. This new program was adopted by some schools in response to the pandemic to allow the admissions committee to learn more about the applicants.

I tend to allow the negatives of this semester to dominate my mind. However, I do want to shed light on some of the positive experiences I have had this semester. For the first time, I lived off campus. My roommates are great friends of mine and have loved their friendship throughout the semester. They are such a source of joy in my life and being around them helps to relieve my anxieties about COVID on the remainder of campus. I have also taken a greater interest in epidemiology and infectious disease since the pandemic began. Seeing new research articles come out on how coronavirus is more harmful to some people than others truly fascinates me. Hearing about the different vaccines and their effectiveness is also something I love hearing and I love to talk about. My background as a biology major and pre-med student has allowed me to explain the scientific discoveries in simple terms to my friends, such as how an mRNA vaccine does not inject living or dead virus into your body, but instead injects the template for the spike protein so that the immune cells can recognize the protein and develop an antibody without being exposed to virus. These scientific discoveries have sparked my interest in epidemiology and infectious disease, which is now a specialty that I am very interested to look into when I get to medical school.

This semester has not been what I had expected it to be. While there have been good things this semester, they are countered with a great amount of things that were either bad or were below my expectations. I am so glad that this semester is coming to an end. Simply because of this semester's circumstances, this has been the most challenging semester yet. I say it every year, but I can confidently say that I mean it the most this year: I have never been more ready for a break.

Completely Online

 All semester, I have had one in person class. It was my microbiology lab. I would go in on Tuesday and Thursday every other week. On November 1st, I got an email from my TA letting us know that for the remainder of the semester, class would be fully online.

When I got this email, I was definitely a little upset. Of course going to class is not my favorite thing to do, but I did enjoy the interactive nature of this lab- staining bacteria, learning to focus microscopes, plating bacteria, and learning the differences in bacteria based on how they grew when plated on different mediums. This has undoubtedly been my favorite lab throughout college (and I've taken too many labs to count), and I'm sad to see it end early. 

Not only was this one of my more enjoyable classes for the semester, it also provided structure to my day. Most of my other classes are synchronous and have lectures live-streamed at a certain time each day, but it's easy for me to not watch the lecture and tell myself I'll rewatch it when I want. With lab, I have to show up or I won't be allowed to complete my assignment for the week. It was great to have that small amount of structure in my classes that I could easily ignore for my online classes.

I'm sad that all of my classes are now fully online. However, I am optimistic about next semester. My immunobiology class is set to be fully in person and I am hopeful that it will remain that way for the entirety of the semester. It is a 400-level graduate course that has limited the class size and chosen to use a large lecture hall in JSB. This semester might have been wildly different from the past 6 semesters, but I am remaining positive going into my final semester in the spring and using the lessons I've learned about online classes this semester to continue to pursue success.

Dressed for Success?

 One of the few perks of online learning for me has been the freedom to wear whatever I want to class. Most mornings I roll out of bed change from my pajamas, which are athletic shorts and a t shirt, into a different combination of athletic shorts and a t shirt. It's nice to not have to worry about putting on a real, weather appropriate outfit to go to class. While I've never been one to dress up and wear jeans and a real top to in-person class, I certainly did my best to make myself presentable in leggings and a sweatshirt most days. This semester, I find myself only wearing shorts and a hoodie to class since I learn from the comfort of my bedroom. I've never been a big fan of pants, so being able to wear shorts regardless of the weather has been a small plus of online class.

That being said, I do have to put myself into a presentable outfit every other week for my single in person class. Based on the collage of the outfits I wore to class for an entire week, could you guess which days I had my in person class?

If you guessed that my in person class occurred on Tuesday and Thursday, you would be correct. At least in my opinion, there is a major difference in the way I dress to go to class in person and to sit at my desk all day. If I don't have to wear pants down to my ankles, I'm probably not going to (unless its cold and a blanket isn't warm enough). 

I think this is a pretty good depiction of the semester spent taking online classes: minimal effort whenever possible.