Introduction
Hi, I’m Melissa Adams, A tutor at ScholarsHelp. These times have seen many students assigned essays related to emerging issues, a case in mind in the nursing field is Covid-19. Here is a sample essay on the topic ‘Covid-19 Vaccine Controversy.’
COVID-19 Vaccine Controversy
When the coronavirus pandemic hit the world in 2019, scientists across the board began frantic efforts to develop diagnostic kits, treatment regimens, and vaccines. The threat of the annihilation of the human race by this virus motivated governments to allocate resources towards finding solutions to this pandemic. While diagnostic procedures and treatments signaled the early success in fighting the diseases, the development of the COVID-19 vaccine was seen as the most promising outcome of the scientific and political investment made on this matter. China became the first country to produce a COVID-19 vaccine named the CanSino vaccine. This vaccine that was approved in June 2020 was used by the military and other high-risk areas. Russia approved the Sputnik V vaccine in August 2020 although only a few doses were made available for use. Pfizer-BioNTech produced a vaccine that became the first to be approved in Europe. Soon afterward, other institutions entered the vaccine market with products like Moderna, Oxford-AstraZeneca, Johnson and Johnson, and Covaxin.
The high influx of vaccines in the market alongside the ravaging pandemic sparked considerable controversy in various political, economic, and social segments. In the early stages of corona-virus infections, scientists in the World Health Organization mentioned that a viable vaccine would only be available after a minimum of 18 months. The fact that companies produced vaccines in less than eight months raises questions about the efficacy and safety of products aimed at protecting the population against COVID-19.
These products came in the backdrop of various allegations on the deleterious effects of vaccines on human health. The mechanisms of developing these vaccines raised eyebrows, especially among the people who did not understand the science behind virus attenuation, inactivation, genomics, or vectors. Some of the vaccines, like Oxford-AstraZeneca, used other respiratory viruses to deliver coronavirus genetic material into the human cell. The introduction of a foreign gene into the human clues created fear that the genetic code could change and result in mutations, much like what happens in SciFi movies. Other vaccines were alleged to cause blood clots or exacerbate the symptoms of COVID 19. Admittedly, some European countries suspended the use of Oxford-AstraZeneca due to this claim. Issues surrounding the efficacy of the vaccines caused people to question whether the vaccines were necessary in the first place.
After the rollout of vaccines, anti-vaccine campaigns started in different parts of the world. In the United States, the debate about the safety and efficacy of the vaccines reached Congress, with Republicans vehemently opposing the vaccination of Americans. Republican lawmakers even invited vaccine conspiracy theorists to testify in Congress and convince American leaders that the vaccination campaigns were counterproductive. A Cleveland-based doctor offered a testament to how the vaccines could connect with 5G towers and affect human health. Beyond Congress, the anti-vaccine campaigns went to the household as people and their children hesitated to take the shots. On social media, anti-vaxxers propagated fear and asked people to avoid the vaccines for safety reasons.
In 2015, 4 years before the COVID-19 outbreak, Bill Gates held a TED talk about the risk of having a global pandemic killing millions of people. In this talk, he gave insights into the risk of microbial infection of global magnitude and the unpreparedness of the world in fighting such a catastrophe. He addressed issues such as the spread, tracking surveillance, prevention, and treatment. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit the world, this talk prompted people to question the role of technology and the corporate world in this matter. As a representative of the business world, some people thought that the business world, and especially the pharmaceutical industry, was responsible for the outbreak as a plot to develop and sell vaccines. Certainly, scientific evidence and commentaries from different experts have disparaged these statements, although their contribution to the COVID-19 vaccines controversy is indispensable.
The distribution of COVID-19 vaccines in the world is another area that has raised concerns about the equitability of access to this vital commodity. The popular vaccine brands have been manufactured in developed nations. This means that although developing nations, like African countries, have high numbers of COVID-19 infections, their access to vaccines is limited. Due to this discrepancy in the access to vaccines, the Africa Medical Research Foundation (AMREF) has petitioned the developed nations to increase the distribution of these vaccines to the African Continent. Some commentators have argued that the denial of this access is a deliberate move to eliminate the virus in other nations but leave Africans to suffer from the disease long afterward. However, some western Nations have shown their support by donating vaccines to different African Nations.
The controversy about the COVID-19 vaccine is not ending any time soon. The fact that people still get the infection after receiving the vaccine is disturbing. At first, the government had told its citizenry that taking a single or two shots of the vaccine would mount adequate protection from the disease. Recently, people have been told to take booster shots, sometimes more than once, to fully protect themselves from the infection. It is now questionable whether governments and the scientific community have clear facts about the disease or the vaccines. Questions still linger about whether the vaccines available today will keep people protected after the emergence of new mutations or whether the harmful health effects of the vaccines will become evident years after today. The public needs valid, scientific, and true information about the disease, and the politics or economic involved in vaccines and vaccination protocols.