René F. Najera, DrPH, an epidemiologist with a doctorate in public health from John Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland wrote in one of his blogs recently, “where there are people, there is disease”; a quote in his own terms referred to as ‘truism’.

He is a wonderful soul that explains the history of vaccines – and practices prior to ‘jabs’ – really well on the world wide web of information at https://www.historyofvaccines.org/ (definitely check this link out!). I have been on this website for quite some time now researching and equipping myself with invaluable information, especially regarding the non-existent link between ASD (autism) and vaccinations. The foregone conclusion being “most scientific and medical experts are satisfied that no connection exists between vaccines and autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders”. (A topic particularly close to my heart for obvious reasons!) … totally blessed to have a wonderful little soul who is on the spectrum … cuddly little giant!! … I digress ❤

The intention of this post is not about controversial vaccination relationships and/or dodgy behaviours, nor am I an anti-vaxxer by any means. On a personal note, I even got seven jabs of rabies as a kid when a rabid dog brushed past attempting to shower its unwarranted love upon my little cute self (must’ve been around 7 or 8 years old back then!!) and that’s on top of the usual/common jabs one generally gets – the childhood vaccination regime!!

Edward Jenner, (1749 – 1823) an English physician and scientist who is regarded as the father (founder) of vaccines (a term derived by Jenner himself describing convoluted immunology process he pioneered fighting smallpox in humans with pathogens from cowpox (something to do with cows methinks! – although there were speculations that it had something to do with horses – maybe both! .. domesticated mammals more or less!!). His work is said to have “saved more lives than the work of any other human”

The medical practice of ‘immunology’ – in a fairly general sense of the term – however pre-dates Jenner’s lifesaving attempts. According to educational resources provided readily by College of Physicians of Philadelphia (https://www.historyofvaccines.org/timeline#EVT_48), ‘inoculation’ goes back to earliest parts of the last millennium or so – where the Chinese were understood to literally pick dried smallpox scabs off one suffering being and shoving them up another suffering beings nostrils (they weren’t snorting the best of the powders for that “Yo dude! I’m feelin’ stressed, wanna catch a buzz with me?” kind of powders – ha!) to kick start lifesaving immune response(s) or practice some next level kinky bodily fluid transfer techniques.

Coming back to present reality, COVID19 has left big pharma with challenges (and/or sparkles in their executives’ eyes) to promptly getting a grip on accelerating pandemic and get the world back to some form of normalcy (wishful thinking!!). Quite a few pharmaceuticals have stepped up to the mark pushing the mRNA cutting edge immunotechnology. Moderna (mRNA 1273 vaccine), Pfizer-BioNTech (Tozinameran or BNT162b2) and recently Oxford University have been scrambling to get dosage into human tissues and muscles to curb the out-of-control pandemic so that the governments can save humanity (more so from economical gloom than anything else – shots fired?! – perhaps!!). All I’ll remark, the research is rushed!! After all; polio, chickenpox et al, all took ages to eradicate upon years and years of trials and vaccination campaigns. Not to mention the battle to find an antidote for HIV or even influenza shots (at best as effective as toss of coin!)

Getting back to the point, mRNA – in full is Messenger Ribonucleic acid – is a molecule that conveys (‘genetic messages’) or if you will, relays information within the genetic framework. The reason I mention these heavy words, which I’m not an expert at by any means, is because the jabs being rolled out containing mRNA is the prime ingredient of what is going to save us all eventually (if not from pandemic than rising taxes and levis that will eventually be imposed on us all by governing elites to recover their losses and re-fill their treasuries – shots fired again?! – yikes!!)

From my understanding, perhaps flawed as I’m not an expert, the idea is that these synthetic ‘messenger’ molecules kick start an immune response generating antibodies upon detecting foreign pathogens (SARS-COV-2 for the sake of argument here and ending this pandemic!) and fight them off for a full and speedy recovery. Great Stuff!!! .. There is hope, faith and progression ..

But just a few further details that are akin to reading fine print when getting into any commercial contract more or less! Based on a quick assessment of Moderna mRNA 1273 trial report (https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2035389), some interesting highlights emerged 🙂

The trials claim efficacy of 90% and above, but interestingly, the vaccine was administered in two distinct dose sittings, 28 days apart. Hence, half a dose at day 1, then full dose at day 29. The primary ‘end point’ or criteria for assessment was to verify prevention of COVID19 symptoms onset of up to 14 days after the second jab. Turns out, quite a few trial candidates were omitted from receiving second dose for trial results as they had developed COVID19 symptoms (a small number – 45 candidates or so!). But the gist of the argument presented, the efficacy only took into consideration candidates that received full dosage.

Therefore, no indication of efficacy (any level – be it high or low) if a person develops COVID in between the dose administration window of 28 days (as trial candidates were omitted from clinical trials during this study). So the way I understand this, a person receiving these jabs must ensure they stay clear of the virus for four weeks between jabs 1 and 2 of full administration!!

So what does it all mean (from my POV anyways?!), it’s a great start, I must say, to get somewhat of a handle on the challenge(s) ahead, but many questions remain. Highlighting and reiterating a few as per research summary cited; they are as follows:

1. Safety and efficacy over a longer period of time, in larger population as well as pregnant women and children
2. Whether the vaccine protects against asymptomatic infection and transmission to the unvaccinated (unprotected) person
3. How to care for those who miss the second vaccine dose

Please leave a comment!

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