To the Editor:
Re “Biden Rebukes Trump on Pace of Inoculation” (front page, Dec. 30):
The disastrous leadership that failed to mobilize a national effort to prevent the spread of the coronavirus is being played out again in the administration’s waning days as the rate of vaccinations falls far short of what was promised and what is desperately needed.
Since the early days of the pandemic, the Trump administration has blended incompetence with optimism, and recent predictions of high numbers of vaccinations by year’s end are strikingly reminiscent of the falsely reassuring statements that were made for months about testing capabilities and the course of the pandemic.
After Jan. 20 the Biden administration will assume full responsibility for the management of the pandemic and for hundreds of millions of vaccinations. An absentee President Trump, in not executing a plan for swift and efficient vaccinations while he still has the authority to do so, will have squandered a last chance to act in the best interests of the country.
Roger Hirschberg
Bondville, Vt.
To the Editor:
Re “Poorer Nations at Back of Line for the Vaccine” (front page, Dec. 26):
If developing countries can’t secure sufficient doses of a Covid-19 vaccine, not only will there be more inequality than before, but there also will be more child suffering.
On top of the devastation of the illness itself, the pandemic is exacerbating the abuse and exploitation of children, from sexual abuse and domestic violence to growing online child pornography to child labor and trafficking, particularly in countries that provide little or no social protection.
This spring, 88 Nobel Peace laureates and world leaders called on governments to ensure that $1 trillion in Covid relief funds be used to protect the world’s most vulnerable children. Disgracefully, to date less than 1 percent of the funds have been spent on this.
Covid-19 Vaccines ›
Answers to Your Vaccine Questions
With distribution of a coronavirus vaccine beginning in the U.S., here are answers to some questions you may be wondering about:
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- If I live in the U.S., when can I get the vaccine? While the exact order of vaccine recipients may vary by state, most will likely put medical workers and residents of long-term care facilities first. If you want to understand how this decision is getting made, this article will help.
- When can I return to normal life after being vaccinated? Life will return to normal only when society as a whole gains enough protection against the coronavirus. Once countries authorize a vaccine, they’ll only be able to vaccinate a few percent of their citizens at most in the first couple months. The unvaccinated majority will still remain vulnerable to getting infected. A growing number of coronavirus vaccines are showing robust protection against becoming sick. But it’s also possible for people to spread the virus without even knowing they’re infected because they experience only mild symptoms or none at all. Scientists don’t yet know if the vaccines also block the transmission of the coronavirus. So for the time being, even vaccinated people will need to wear masks, avoid indoor crowds, and so on. Once enough people get vaccinated, it will become very difficult for the coronavirus to find vulnerable people to infect. Depending on how quickly we as a society achieve that goal, life might start approaching something like normal by the fall 2021.
- If I’ve been vaccinated, do I still need to wear a mask? Yes, but not forever. Here’s why. The coronavirus vaccines are injected deep into the muscles and stimulate the immune system to produce antibodies. This appears to be enough protection to keep the vaccinated person from getting ill. But what’s not clear is whether it’s possible for the virus to bloom in the nose — and be sneezed or breathed out to infect others — even as antibodies elsewhere in the body have mobilized to prevent the vaccinated person from getting sick. The vaccine clinical trials were designed to determine whether vaccinated people are protected from illness — not to find out whether they could still spread the coronavirus. Based on studies of flu vaccine and even patients infected with Covid-19, researchers have reason to be hopeful that vaccinated people won’t spread the virus, but more research is needed. In the meantime, everyone — even vaccinated people — will need to think of themselves as possible silent spreaders and keep wearing a mask. Read more here.
- Will it hurt? What are the side effects? The Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine is delivered as a shot in the arm, like other typical vaccines. The injection into your arm won’t feel different than any other vaccine, but the rate of short-lived side effects does appear higher than a flu shot. Tens of thousands of people have already received the vaccines, and none of them have reported any serious health problems. The side effects, which can resemble the symptoms of Covid-19, last about a day and appear more likely after the second dose. Early reports from vaccine trials suggest some people might need to take a day off from work because they feel lousy after receiving the second dose. In the Pfizer study, about half developed fatigue. Other side effects occurred in at least 25 to 33 percent of patients, sometimes more, including headaches, chills and muscle pain. While these experiences aren’t pleasant, they are a good sign that your own immune system is mounting a potent response to the vaccine that will provide long-lasting immunity.
- Will mRNA vaccines change my genes? No. The vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer use a genetic molecule to prime the immune system. That molecule, known as mRNA, is eventually destroyed by the body. The mRNA is packaged in an oily bubble that can fuse to a cell, allowing the molecule to slip in. The cell uses the mRNA to make proteins from the coronavirus, which can stimulate the immune system. At any moment, each of our cells may contain hundreds of thousands of mRNA molecules, which they produce in order to make proteins of their own. Once those proteins are made, our cells then shred the mRNA with special enzymes. The mRNA molecules our cells make can only survive a matter of minutes. The mRNA in vaccines is engineered to withstand the cell’s enzymes a bit longer, so that the cells can make extra virus proteins and prompt a stronger immune response. But the mRNA can only last for a few days at most before they are destroyed.
It is vital for President-elect Joe Biden’s administration to re-establish America’s leadership as a moral authority. Using its muscle to provide ample vaccines to children in developing countries is a start.
Kailash Satyarthi
New Delhi
Mr. Satyarthi, a Nobel Peace laureate, is the founder of Laureates and Leaders for Children.
To the Editor:
The discovery of a more infectious Covid-19 mutation in Britain is unfortunately not unexpected: Viruses mutate. Whether the current series of vaccines will be as effective in preventing infection by this new variant is unknown. The longevity of vaccine immunization protection is uncertain, and the need for booster shots is very possible. Add to that the large numbers of people who will decline vaccination.
Bringing this pandemic under control will take more than vaccines and remdesivir and dexamethasone for hospitalized Covid-19 patients. Operation Warp Speed II should aim at developing an antiviral cocktail similar to those developed for H.I.V. patients to give to all those who test positive for Covid-19. Only then will the pandemic be controlled.
Jeffrey Fisher
New York
The writer is a cardiologist.
To the Editor:
In 1952, three years before the polio vaccine was approved, I contracted polio. A 6-year-old separated from my family and quarantined in a hospital overwhelmed with sick and dying children, I survived. Many children did not. The virus left me with permanent paralysis and a limp; I walk with crutches or use a wheelchair.
I have a full and happy life. Still, I wonder how different it might have been if the vaccine had been available and I weren’t here now trying to recall what it feels like to run, full out, just for the joy of it.
Get vaccinated. Don’t take a chance with your life.
Patricia McLain
Olympia, Wash.