The End of Corona-times?

When will this madness end? When will we agree that it's just a cold we have no choice but to live with? Vaccine or no vaccine?

My guess is that, if there is a peaceful transfer of power in the US on January 20, the COVID-19 lockdowns around the world will lose their intensity soon after.

If the US descends in civil war, Corona will continue to keep the rest of the world locked down for some time to come.

Sure, lockdown or no lockdown, vaccine or no vaccine, the pandemic will continue. In a few weeks, most people will be infected and immune. So, unless we have significant political forces at play, the madness should end.

We all imitate America. Trump has shown that madness is OK at the highest level. Thus, we should look forward to Trump copy-cats elected to rule the rest of the world. I worry what a Trump imitation will look like in Germany, Russia, Poland, India or China. Such copycats are likely to be more poor, more free and more violent. Like the original Trump, they will try to subvert their local frail democracies and, perhaps, win.

In the end, America may be great again. America, led by a more moderate Trump, with the more moderate and shorter Corona madness and, ultimately, in the hands of the moderate Joe Biden. An America where a reasonably tested COVID-19 vaccine is used, whereas, in other parts of the world, perhaps vaccines are developed more hastily, and with less care.

Vaccine or no Vaccine? This is the question.

Vaccines are generally safe. Nearly always, the side effects of vaccines are less serious than the disease they protect against.

Side effects exit, but they affect a very small number of the people who vaccinate. A well known recent example is Multiple Sclerosis in France, which appears to be caused by the Hepatitis B vaccine (see article also on pubmed).

Sure, even if all these MS cases are attributed to the Hepatitis B vaccine, the harm caused is still less than the harm that would have been caused by the Hepatitis itself. Thus, the vaccination campaign wasn't such a miserable failure.

Still, this is a cold... and, both the vaccine and the disease could potentially offer immunity for only a short time.

While I have no doubts about giving the vaccine to the elderly, and the medical practitioners with consent, I would think twice about giving it to children and pregnant women. Of course, the vaccine should be available for everyone just like the flu vaccine is.

Covid-19 appears to be a political phenomenon, much more than a medical problem. The mortality rate of 0.2%, which I put forward since February, doesn't justify the measures we've taken worldwide. It also, perhaps, doesn't justify a mandatory vaccine among the young and healthy.

It's just my view.

My wish for the new year: a peaceful transfer of power in the US and the end of the Corona-times.