With Covid continuing to play havoc, and waves after waves of major outbreak continue to plague various continents (akin to kids playing musical chairs), various countries are taking one step forward then two steps backward when making plans to "live" with the virus.
Strategies such as circuit breaker / lock-down /hightened alert state (akin to medical profession attributing the term SPECTRUM to medical condition that comes with different grades of severity), followed by gradual easing of control, come and go in full circle after several months.
COVID vaccination was touted as the ultimate tool to get us out of the predicament.
But, instead of a single dose of COVID vaccination, a booster dose was recommended --> but that was not going to be the end of it... some countries are now advocating 4th booster doses (at interval of 4-6 months)! Inevitaby, COVID vaccination may need to be given every 6 months, akin to that of influenza vaccination.
It is irrefutable that COVID vaccination helps to prevent severe infection/minimise risk of deaths. But it carries some adverse reactions (myocarditis, clotting problems, immune-mediated neurological disorders, anaphylaxis etc). But in the phase of COVID pandemic, the benefits of vaccination outweigh the risk!
To make matter worse, there was fear/doubts of mRNA used to make COVID vaccines being incorporated into our body, and might lead to some genetic alteration to our body in the future (though this has been refuted by relevant scientific authorities).
And various posts in the social media by anti-Vaxxer casting doubts in the mind of general public re: potential harms / effectiveness of the vaccines, make the water even more murky.
My take is -
1. COVID is here to stay, 2. We should support the drive for COVID vaccination - to protect ourselves, and our family, 3. Follow guidance from relevant authorities on whether booster dose is needed, and when should it be given
It has been 2 years since COVID ravages the world. Hope it will fade away soon, and life can go back to normal again!
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| Hopefully rainbow will bring along with it good fortune, and signify the impending end of COVID pandemic |
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| We need to extinguish the "fire" brought by the COVID pandemic... |
