“Vaccine, Vaccine, Vaccine, Vacci-i-ine”
My COVID Bulletin №1: “Fear not, we have vaccine … really? !!”
There’s a story about a theologian with a musical talent who decided to write a series of songs based on ‘The Psalms of The Old Testament’: When he submitted a draft to his publishers, he received a request to remove one of the lines from one of his songs. He had changed the words of one psalm that said: “… the evil are on the way to their doom” so that in the new song it now read: “God will punish sinners with a plague”.
The publishers requested a change, saying: “nowadays we don’t get plagues”!
Enter COVID-19: The plague of our time. I wonder whether the theologian has since corresponded with his publishers.
Now, back to Dolly Parton. Last year she donated $1million to the institute that is developing the Moderna Vaccine in America. And recently, as part of a campaign to get American’s vaccinated against COVID she re-wrote one of her previous hit songs: “Jolene” (Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jole-e-ene)
Its newly-written title is: “Vaccine, Vaccine, Vaccine, Vacci-i-ine” taking on the same rhythm as the original Jolene version (hence my title for this story)
The song goes:
Vaccine, Vaccine, Vaccine, Vacci-i-ine I’m begging you, please don’t hesitate Vaccine, Vaccine, Vaccine, Vacci-i-ine ’cause once you’re dead, then that’s a bit too late … Dolly Parton
The message from Dolly, and indeed from many world leaders trying to protect their populations, seems to be (as my sub-title hints):
********** “Fear not, we have the vaccine for COVID” **********
But wait! Take a closer look at my sub-title. In full, it says: *** “Fear not, we have the vaccine for COVID … or do we really?” ***
Do we really? And there lies the nub of the unknown. Countries like The United Kingdom who have managed to reach quite a high level of vaccination are planning, or have already begun, to open up their populations to an effective ‘no-restrictions’ policy (plus ‘cautions’ of course).
Will this strategy work? It will certainly appeal to many who are tired of being under lockdowns and heavy restrictions; and it will please businesses who can now open up, more-or-less ‘as before’. But will this strategy work? Therein lies the ultimate test … will the vaccine conquer COVID?.
I suspect not. And I’m not the only one. Researchers who are much closer to the realities of vaccine efficacies, viral mutations, and variant strains than most of us, are more cautious.
As a member of The Royal Society of Biology, I am privileged to receive a regular COVID Bulletin with news and summaries of ‘everything COVID’. It’s a daunting read, but most thorough in its scientific coverage of the pandemic and its treatment. Only yesterday, when I got the latest edition of the Bulletin I was drawn to a news article published recently in Nature with the title: “How a rampant coronavirus variant blunts our immune defences”.
This article mentions the work of Nevan Krogan, a geneticist at the University of California, San Francisco, co-leader with Claire Jolly, a Virologist at University College London. But please note: the variant strain focused on here is the Alpha Variant, and at the time of writing my story today (mid-July ’21) a newer variant, the Delta Variant appears to be more virulent, much more … in its ability to spread.
Perhaps we should heed the words of one of those above-named scientists, Neven Krogan, who said, even before the emergence of the Delta variant: “This virus is super sneaky; The question is, what other tricks does it have?”
Indeed! What other tricks?
This article is one of my series of COVID Bulletins. To read the whole series, just click on this link
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“Vaccine, Vaccine, Vaccine …” written by Fred: Almost Famous * * * * * © Fred Ogden 2021 * * * * *
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