How Will We Finally End COVID-19? – The Medical Futurist Pledge On Vaccination

In 2020, we all suffered a blow. No matter where you live or what industry you work in, you got hit by the pandemic. Out of nowhere, our everyday lives have significantly changed. Most of us tried to pull it together and find out how to move forward; and ultimately it turned out that the only reliable answer to this global challenge for all of us is science.

For what is clear for me as a doctor, a scientist and as a human being, is that we could only move forward with an efficient vaccine,

and if everyone around the globe lets vaccinate themselves.

That is when the period of hope can begin

Long before the summer, I outlined 3 scenarios in a video that based on the data and trends I see, there will definitely be approved vaccines by Q1 of 2021, maybe even before. Vaccine production and development are since ongoing and as transparent as can be – and to whoever questions the speed of the development and argues that it poses threats to the vaccine's efficacy, I can give a simple answer. For you must know that there were no corners cut in the clinical trials and approval processes. These are up to all the standards and deemed safe by separate, independent regulatory bodies. The studies were published in high-level, international, peer-reviewed medical journals.

Now a different race begins

A race about who can get back to life and work sooner. Which countries can open up for tourism and business faster than the others. And despite the fact that vaccine distribution is indeed about money and connections (although not in every case), the governing bodies of healthcare all try to ensure the ethical distribution of doses.

Based on the supply chain improvements of the companies that have an approved vaccine. It seems we will have dozens of more vaccines in months – we wrote an article about where to track them. So let's have no doubts that there will be enough doses for everyone in less than a year.

The New York Times Coronavirus Vaccine Tracker

The country where the willingness to get vaccinated is greater, wins

Vaccination is one of the success stories of humankind. With the use of vaccines, we were able to avoid previously deadly illnesses, and live a longer and healthier life. Unfortunately, misinformation tends to spread more quickly than scientific papers; and as a result, outbreaks of illnesses that once have been eradicated still happen time to time.

This is where communication gets into the picture. If misinformation is spreading and the people don’t get good enough answers from their government or medical association, they will not believe science – and they won’t get vaccinated. And if you have a look at the table below you’ll see which governments have done a good job so far.

Having doubts ≠ stupidity

Having doubts about new things, especially when it comes to one’s health is understandable. It's easy to be afraid of the unknown (this is what I also say in my keynotes about artificial intelligence). But this time, we don't have much time to be afraid. Unless we want COVID to stay with us a little longer.

If you worry about how the new type of mRNA vaccines work, read about them in reliable resources. 

If you worry about the long-term consequences (which no data indicate for now after having tested the vaccine on tens of thousands of people and vaccinating already millions), you might want to wait out. But then we’ll be in lockdown for years.

Lockdown for 3-5 years?!

I repeat: no data indicate that the vaccines will have long-term medical complications. To see in practice if that’s true, you should wait 3-5 years. During this time COVID will be with us night and day, as people will wait it out and not get vaccinated. Over time you are likely to get COVID anyway sooner or later; and that is a Russian roulette whether it just goes through you without symptoms or you get seriously ill, no matter how fit or healthy you now are. Not to mention the people around you you either won’t be able to meet or simply endanger.

Source: LABIOTECH.eu

So how to get past this?

To make it clear, we can only leave COVID behind if we are all vaccinated. We, at The Medical Futurist, trust science and vaccines we can read the studies about. Studies that were published in international, high-level, peer-reviewed journals to make sure that other, relevant researchers could also validate the results. 

The pledge we make is that we will get vaccinated with any vaccine that is approved by the FDA, WHO or the EMEA as soon as possible. And we encourage and advise you to do the same.

The Medical Futurist team

---

Dr. Bertalan Mesko, PhD is The Medical Futurist and Director of The Medical Futurist Institute analyzing how science fiction technologies can become reality in medicine and healthcare. As a geek physician with a PhD in genomics, he is a keynote speaker and an Amazon Top 100 author.

Get access to exclusive content and analyses about the future of digital health on Patreon.com!

Subscribe here for The Medical Futurist newsletter to get exclusive details about digital health!