Living with the Pandemic

Living with the Pandemic

Where we stand today Almost 2 years into the pandemic, mankind has never been blessed more. We could for the first time since the beginning of this once-in-a-century pandemic that has altered our lives beyond recognition managed to come up with the first vaccine for COVID-19 in less than a year. This will go down in history as one of science and medical research's greatest achievements, perhaps the most impressive. We currently have about 8 peer reviewed vaccines which can give reasonable protection against the severe form of COVID infection. We have two novel oral antivirals which is active against all variants assessed. Two things that should be clearly understood are that no vaccine will make a PCR test turn positive and vaccines against contagious respiratory viruses, like Flu and now COVID, are supposed to keep people out of hospitals and away from ventilators. This is their historical barometer of success. They are not intended to prevent a positive test. We live at a time where >65% of the world has encountered SARS CoV-2 antigens either through infection or vaccination. We have crossed more than the halfway of the pandemic according to renowned epidemiologists and Infectious diseases specialists worldwide. By