“But you need to let go of the past, so you can have a future.”
– Sid the Sloth from the movie Ice Age
Many people in the world are tired of hearing about COVID-19. This virus has hit the world hard and fast and is like nothing anyone alive today has ever experienced. That includes those who survived the great depression and WW II. From the President on down, people want to put this behind us and move forward. People want to do and be the best before this pandemic occurred. Unmistakably, health care providers are not immune to COVID fatigue.
We have quoted Greek Philosophers, great scientists current and past, politicians, playwrights, authors, biblical passages, and historical figures from about every walk of life. This week we are tackling a complicated subject to understand, the COVID vaccine race. Given that this pandemic affects the whole world, we thought about comparing it to an event in the past that changed the world, the Ice Age. However, not a lot of firsthand quotes from famous historical people are available from that time. So we found a very relevant quote from an animated movie “Ice Age.” This quote is as relevant today as it was to the characters Sid the Sloth was trying to convince to “leave their comfort zones” in that movie.
We will discuss the vaccines. Vaccines are the hot topic of the election and the source for all the politicians’ promises for various reasons. We will not challenge their statements or reasoning, but we will say their medical and scientific knowledge is suspect at best (both parties, we do not pick favorites here.) The reality is, even with a scientific and medical background, these vaccines can be a bit much to digest. So, Dr. Al Akhrass will break them into different sections. He will discuss the ones getting all the attention in the US Phase 3 trials. Phase 3 trials are significant when determining if these vaccines will be safe and effective when a person faces the vaccine in the wild. He will also discuss the longer-term options and other considerations, such as packaging and distribution considerations.
Dr. Moore will be reviewing the patient consent forms and the employee logs, and current CDC recommendations for health care workers. Dr. Hom will review the latest research updates, and Dr. Karpecki will bring us some information on Industry developments.
These are not easy times for any of us. But if we embrace them and work together, we can do our part to cage this disease by slowing its continued spread. A spread we are seeing rising as we enter the colder months. The lower we keep the curve now, the more advantage we can take of new testing and treatment options as they develop. Indeed, the closer we will be to a viable vaccine. Even with all of that, we will have adapted into what will be the new norms. To do that, as Sid the Sloth says, “ you need to let go of the past, so that you can have a future.”
