SPRING comes early with great news that brings us closer to our collective aspiration to defeat COVID-19, so we can go back toward “normalcy” and rebuild our lives and our nation.
President Joe Biden announced on Tuesday, March 2 that the United States will have the vaccine supply we need to cover ALL adults in the country by the end of May, which brings us two months ahead of his previously announced target to vaccinate almost all Americans by the end of July.
In a televised message, Biden broke the news that two competing companies in the fields of health care and pharmaceuticals — Johnson and Johnson and Merck — have joined together to help produce more of the Johnson & Johnson single-shot vaccine that was authorized for emergency use over the weekend.
As CBS News reported, “Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine has been shown to provide 85% protection against severe COVID-19 by 28 days after vaccination. Among people who got the vaccine in clinical trials, there were no COVID-related deaths.” This vaccine will augment the vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna that were approved earlier.
This has been made possible by having a true leader who uses the power of the Office of the President of the United States and the National Defense Production Act to truly help the lives of people to defeat COVID-19. Biden announced in his televised message that he will use the act to accelerate the production of equipment, machinery and supplies.
This will also help fulfill the aspiration “to get the country’s public school system back up and running for in-person learning nearly 10 months after the coronavirus pandemic shuttered classrooms for 50 million children,” one of Biden’s initiatives on Day One of his presidency, U.S. News reported.
On Biden’s first full day in office, the administration rolled out a plan which stated: ”The United States is committed to ensuring that students and educators are able to resume safe, in-person learning as quickly as possible, with the goal of getting a majority of K-8 schools safely open in 100 days.
Biden’s executive order gave the Education Department and Department of Health and Humans Services with the mandate “to provide guidance on how to reopen safely for in-person learning and operate in a way that allows schools to stay open”. This collaboration would “produce a Safer Schools and Campuses Best Practices Clearinghouse to share lessons learned from across the country,” U.S. News further reported.
Tuesday’s announcement by the president is a step toward this direction. Biden is asking states to prioritize vaccinating not only essential workers, but also “teachers, childcare workers and school staff through the administration’s partnership with pharmacies, although the president cannot make states prioritize educators. Mr. Biden said he wants all such educators and support staff to have at least one vaccine shot by the end of March,” CBS News reported.
The president has warned in January that in this war against the pandemic, the situation” could go worse before it gets better.” However, the “war time effort” of the Biden administration gives us much to be hopeful about. We have been seeing positive developments that indicate we can go back to “normalcy” if we ALL work together and do our share of responsibility, especially in light of the new variants we have yet to know more about.
Given the generally downward trend in new cases, hospitalization and deaths, many states, including California, have downgraded their restrictions based on science and data. However, Biden urges Americans in his speech to continue abiding by safety measures of wearing masks, physical distancing, avoiding crowds and practicing hygiene like washing our hands, using sanitizers to mitigate the spread of the virus.
While getting vaccinated protects us at best or at least prevents us from having deadly symptoms, we still need to practice these safety measures, especially wearing masks.
Gregory Poland, M.D., a Mayo Clinic infectious diseases expert and head of Mayo Clinic’s Vaccine Research Group, explains three important reasons to wear masks and practice all safety measures:
“Number one, while the vaccine reduces your risk, it does not eliminate the risk of being exposed to having the disease and asymptomatically transmitting the virus to others,” says Dr. Poland. “Remember that even the best of these vaccines is about 90%–95% effective, meaning, you might still have a 1 in 10 or 1 in 20 chance of being exposed and getting the disease. So the mask is protecting you.”
The third reason is related to these new mutant variants and other variants still to come.
“The vaccine might protect you against death, but maybe your protection against disease ends up being about 50%–60%,” says Dr. Poland. “If that’s true, then we still want to wear masks to prevent disease and prevent the spread of those variants which could then mutate further causing even more infections.”
If you have family and friends in Texas and Mississippi, or have family members who, because of financial priorities and because of defiance of science and facts, hastily go back to pre-COVID days, urge them to continue wearing masks, practice physical distancing, avoid crowds, wash their hands and get vaccinated. This is all for their own safety and for the greater good so we can all go back to “normalcy” faster.
Finally, call your senators to vote for the passage of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan that the House of Representatives just passed. Biden said in his message:
“Now’s not the time to let our guard down, people’s lives are at stake. We have already, and I carry this in my pocket, lost more… As of today, we’ve lost more than 511,839 Americans, as of today. It’s got to stop. We need the United States Senate to follow the House and pass the American Rescue Plan, because despite the optimism, without new resources, our entire effort will be set back. We need the resources, the American Rescue Plan, and we need it urgently.
We need them expanding testing, ramp up vaccine distribution, fund FEMA and other federal vaccine efforts, and continue reimbursing states for their efforts. We need the resources to expand genomic sequencing, to stay ahead of emerging variants, find the protective gear, transportation, staffing, and other costs required for school and businesses to open safely. We need to fund it. The bottom line is, we need the American Rescue Plan now, now.”
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The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by the author do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of the Asian Journal, its management, editorial board and staff.
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Gel Santos Relos has been in news, talk, public service and educational broadcasting since 1989 with ABS-CBN and is now serving the Filipino audience using different platforms, including digital broadcasting, and print, and is working on a new public service program for the community. You may contact her through email at [email protected], or send her a message via Facebook at Facebook.com/Gel.Santos.Relos.
