'CORONA CITY'- The Vaccine Talk !

In March 2020, I received a message in our family WhatsApp group. It said- "Great news! coronavirus vaccine ready. Able to cure patients within 3 hours after injection. Hats off to US Scientists. Right now Trump announced that Roche Medical Company will launch the vaccine next Sunday, and millions of doses are ready from it”. I immediately got a call from mom asking about this and I had to pull all my communication skills to convince her that it was fake and a vaccine would take a few years to be available for everyone. I am not sure whether I was able to convince her. In the following few months, I didn't hear much from her regarding the vaccines, probably because she couldn't care less about it and also because she had enough of my science talk!

Almost a year later, when the Government of India announced that the vaccination was finally underway, I had the conversation again. This time not over a call, since I was at home besides her. The questions came flowing like water out of a reservoir. This is how it went:

Mom: You said a year back that it was going to take a few years for developing the vaccine. How was it developed so fast?

Me (scratching my head) : See mom, the companies used a lot of the already existing technologies to speed up the development work. For testing the vaccines, a lot of agencies including the regulatory bodies came together to fasten the testing. There was a lot of funding involved as well.

Source: https://www.immunology.org/coronavirus/connect-coronavirus-public-engagement-resources/how-covid19-vaccine-developed-fast

Mom: But can I trust these products?

Me (taking a deep breath): You can mom. It is true that the testing is still going on but based on the results that we have seen until now, you can very well trust these products. They have been found to be safe to administer and effective for the majority of the tested population.

Mom (with a stern look): So if I take this vaccine, can you guarantee that I will be protected against the coronavirus?

Me (with exuberance): Our body has a defense mechanism of its own, much like countries have their armies for protection of their boundaries. So when a foreign agent or virus attacks the body, it activates the defense mechanism and kills the threat. In the case of the coronavirus, the body wasn't aware how to attack the virus since it was appearing for the first time. The vaccines are a tool that is provided to our defense mechanism in helping the fight against the virus. It hacks the virus system and basically provides a cheat code to our body against the virus.

Mom (now visibly irritated with all the science stuff): But will it guarantee me protection?

Me: It is built to provide protection, but we don't have long term results from the testing, which means we are not aware how long this protection will last. From our past experiences against polio, chicken pox, hepatitis and others, the vaccines have provided long term protection. So our expectation for this vaccine is the same.

Mom (a deep breath): Okay, I will take the vaccine, but how do I do that? Who will provide me with the vaccine?

Me: (seemingly happy): The government has built a platform called CO-WIN for registering yourself for the vaccination. You can get the vaccines in public hospitals for free since the government has procured the vaccines from the manufacturers while the vaccine is available for 250 rupees per dose in the private hospitals. You need to take 2 doses of the vaccine currently.

Mom: Okay let's do it !

So that went well. I will get herself registered for the vaccination drive soon when the portal opens for her age group, or go for a private vaccination later. I have realized the difficulties that exist in conveying the correct information to the public, in this age of misinformation and would urge all you learned folks to read and educate yourself and help everyone around in taking wise and informed decisions.