`This COVID-19 virus and its variants replicate more rapidly in unvaccinated individuals and have greater opportunity to mutate to worse strains.’
SINCE the first case of COVID-19 in the United States was reported in January 2020, with all the clinical experience in the country and all studies conducted around the world, we now know the following facts:
The unvaccinated people are 4-5 times more likely to get COVID-19 infection, have 10 times higher risk for severity and hospitalization, and have 11 times higher death rate, compared to not those fully vaccinated. Unprotected by vaccines, these individuals are at a grave risk of death. We have reports of unvaccinated young people (teens and those in their 20s and 30s) who have succumbed to COVID-19. Precious lives lost, unnecessarily.
The virus mutates rapidly in the bodies of unvaccinated individuals, serving as a reservoir host for the virus, replicating to produce new virus strains that are more rapidly transmissible and deadlier, like the Delta variant. Now comes the new one, the C.1.2 strain, which has the added ability to evade antibodies, compared to other variants. As long as the virus remains in the host (human body), it will continue to replicate and mutate to the deadliest form. That’s the nature of viruses. Without a host (when everyone is vaccinated), the virus will self-destruct and vanish.
If the 20 percent (60 million) of the population of the US continue to refuse the vaccines, they will spread the SARS-CoV2 virus and its variants more widely and prolong the pandemic. Worst scenario: If the continuous mutation is unabated among the unvaccinated, it is possible for a new, the deadliest variant ever (resistant to vaccines and to any treatment), could evolve and kill billions more, endangering humanity as a whole.
This COVID-19 virus and its variants replicate more rapidly in unvaccinated individuals and have greater opportunity to mutate to worse strains. Since these persons have no protection, the virus can survive and multiply for longer period in their body, which becomes a “factory” producing worse variants. With the more virulent Delta variant predominating, this has become the pandemic of the unvaccinated.
Since COVID-19 was first discovered on Dec. 31, 2019 in Wuhan, China, the original SARS-CoV2 virus had undergone 59 mutations so far, which speed worries scientists around the world. And as long as there are unvaccinated people, the virus will continue to replicate and mutate in these hosts.
Face masks, like the N-95 and others of similar protective quality, when worn properly, covering both the mouth and the nose, together with social distancing and handwashing, have been found very effective in minimizing/preventing COVID 19 and other viral infections. Since preventive measures have been in place, even the seasonal flu cases have diminished.
COVID-19 news
The US-FDA is expected to decide within three weeks of submission by Pfizer of its application for emergency use authorization for its vaccines for kids ages 5-11, which could be available by the end of October 2021.
After six unvaccinated staff in the maternity ward of a hospital in upstate New York resigned over the hospital’s COVID vaccination requirements to protect patients, it has paused delivering babies. Is this individual “freedom and civil right” to refuse the vaccines not a disservice to society/humanity as a whole?
In Israel, where more than 78 percent of eligible people have been vaccinated much sooner than any other country, the health authorities are considering a booster (third) shot for people over 50 to increase their antibody titer by at least four times (other studies say 8-11 times), since the first two shots wane in their effectiveness after an average of about eight months. In the US, this issue has been used as a political football, confusing the public. Let’s follow medical science, to prevent million more deaths.
The Washington Post reports that stillbirths in unvaccinated pregnant women are causing concerns in Mississippi. The vaccines have been found safe and effective for pregnant mothers and DCD recommends them to get vaccinated.
The Hill reported that radio-TV celebrity Howard Stern has some “choice words” for vaccine opponents “whose position comes down on the side of personal freedoms.” As I have written in my previous columns, societal interest and welfare should supersede individual rights and freedom when the exercise of the latter would adversely affect the entire community, potential deaths in the case of this pandemic.
In Florida, where face masks are left to individual choice, there has been a four-fold increase in COVID-19 among children the past month. The Delta variant is more severe among children compared to earlier strains. Unvaccinated adolescents develop more severe COVID-19 causing respiratory failure, requiring intubation and ventilators, sometimes an ECMO machine.
Getting fully vaccinated and following CDC preventive measures will dramatically increase our chance of survival from COVID-19 and its variants and end this pandemic sooner. It’s really up to us, We, The People!
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Philip S. Chua, MD, FACS, FPCS, a Cardiac Surgeon Emeritus based in Northwest Indiana and Las Vegas, Nevada, is an international medical lecturer/author, and Chairman of the Filipino United Network-USA, a 501(c)3 humanitarian foundation in the United States. Websites: FUN8888.com and philipSchua.com Email: scalpelpen@gmail.com
