The SARS-Cov-2 virus that causes COVID-19 has so far infected more than 135 million people and claimed the lives of over 2.9 million worldwide. The virus, first discovered in late 2019 in the city of Wuhan in Central China, is already considered as being among the ten most lethal pandemics in recorded human history. Even as countries roll out vaccination campaigns aimed at containing and curtailing the spread of the infection, new variants of the virus have been cropping up in some countries and rapidly spreading to others, causing growing concern among governments and health authorities everywhere.
In Kuwait, daily briefing by the Ministry of Health shows that as of Saturday, 10 April, there were a total of 244,325 reported infections and 1,393 fatalities since the first cases were discovered in the country in late February 2020. The increase in reported infections, rise in number of people being admitted to intensive care units, and growing fatalities in recent months have strained the efforts of healthcare and frontline workers, and placed an overwhelming burden on the country’s health system.
In a bid to contain, control and mitigate the impact of the virus the authorities have, since the start of the global pandemic, introduced several precautionary health guidelines aimed at preventing the spread of infections. In addition, the government has also imposed at various phases stringent measures that restricted mobility of people, and curtailed the functioning of educational institutions, business activities and entertainment venues.
While most people have in general been supportive and appreciative of the actions taken by authorities to tackle the ongoing pandemic, and have adhered with the precautionary and preventive guidelines issued, there has been a vociferous opposition to the government’s measures. Some of them, especially those with vested interests, have attempted to sabotage the government’s efforts by raising doubts on the effectiveness of preventive measures, and spreading misinformation about the disease, including about the vaccinations currently being administered to the public.
The limitations placed on public life have been contentious from the start, with some people arguing that these restrictions, including lockdowns, full curfews and partial night curfews, have had only limited impact on containing the proliferation of infection in the country, while its effect on the economy and on daily life of individuals and families have been devastating.
The reasoning that the precautionary and preventive measures taken by the authorities are a failure because infections and fatalities have continued to escalate, are at best presumptive and, in hindsight, a case of second-guessing the authorities. In countries, whose leaders have maintained that the economy trumps taking constraining health measures, and have been reluctant to take deterrent and protective steps, the situation has, if anything, been worse. It is to the credit of health officials and relevant authorities in Kuwait that they have, for the most part, ignored these objections, and have been making health decisions based on available medical evidence and recommended best practices by global health institutions.
Kuwait’s early and prompt response to the outbreak of infections, and the continued protective measures that have at times been labeled inhibitory, as well as the decision by authorities to launch in late December 2020 a free vaccination campaign for everyone in the country, have been welcomed by global entities and organizations, including the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations. The WHO, in particular, has lauded the efforts of Kuwait in supporting other countries in their health initiatives, as well as for supporting and cooperating with global health organizations in their attempts to effectively address the COVID-19 crisis.
Besides proponents and opponents of the government’s handling of the pandemic, there have also been some who have been spreading misleading information on the crisis in an attempt to create chaos in society to benefit their personal or parochial agendas. In this regard, it is fair to say that along with witnessing the arrival of SARS-CoV-2 virus and its eventual proliferation into a global pandemic, the year 2020 also saw the emergence of a global ‘infodemic’ of inaccurate and misleading information. These misinformations and sometimes deliberate fake news stories on the pandemic have at times spread faster than the virus ever could.
Since the start of the pandemic, health authorities have gained a lot of insight about the SARS-CoV-2 virus — its structure, how it spreads, and precautionary steps needed to prevent its transmission. The world has also been able to develop, in a relatively short time, several successful vaccines against infection by the virus, through unprecedented cooperation and sharing of information among the scientific community worldwide.
However, this openness and exchange of information on the health crisis have also come with its share of misinformation and misleading information about the pandemic. Fake news on food and other essential stocks being depleted in stores, or soaring infections and fatalities in some countries, and news about authorities in some places incarcerating and culling infected people, as well as numerous dubious treatments and medications to cure the disease, or on the deleterious effects of taking vaccinations have been making the rounds on various media platforms. While social media sites have admittedly been a hot-bed for proliferation of such fake news on the pandemic, there has also been no dearth of headline-grabbing specious reports on the health crisis in more traditional media such as newspapers and television.
With the reliability of media to convey factual news being questioned as never before, it is important for newspapers and other media to build back trust in the public eye, by ensuring that the stories they publish on the health crisis are verified and fact-checked and from trusted and reliable sources. For their part, people should also be encouraged to double-check any social media post they receive before forwarding it to others.
In addition to the proliferation of misinformation and fake news on the crisis, the pandemic has also given rise to a whole new vocabulary of medical terms that have further confused the lay person. Moreover, when these terms have been used liberally and at times interchangeably by even so-called ‘experts’ it has led even greater bafflement among the public, while adding little, if any, clarity on what these terms actually mean, or their role in the disease prevention process.
To clarify some of these terms and to help debunk some of the myths and fake news out there on issues surrounding the COVID-19 disease, and in particular to ally any misconceptions about the vaccinations now being administered to people, we have compiled the following.
Antigens and Antibodies: An antigen is any substance or organism that is unrecognized by our body’s natural immune system. It could be anything from bacteria to chemicals, to viruses, or even foods that typically trigger an immune response from the body
Antibodies are proteins that detect and bind with the antigen in order to destroy or neutralize them, or to help other elements of the immune system become aware of the presence of such antigens.
Antibodies are highly specific in that they are designed to effectively tackle only one type of antigen. However, this specificity also gives rise to the need to have a different antibody for each antigen.
COVID-19 Testing: According to the Federal Drug Administration in the United States, there are three main types of testing for COVID-19 and SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes it:
Molecular tests. These tests measure genetic material from a virus that is in your body. Material for testing is collected from your nose or throat using a long swab. If the test result is negative, it means you do not have the SARS-CoV2 virus or the COVID-19 infection during the testing period. The test may be wrong if you have a very low level of the virus because your development of the COVID-19 infection is very recent.
Antigen tests. These tests measure antigen proteins from the virus. Material for testing is collected from your nose or throat using a long swab. Most rapid COVID-19 tests are antigen tests. These tests can diagnose COVID-19 but may not be able to rule out a current, active infection. If an antigen test is negative, you will need a molecular test to confirm that you do not have COVID-19.
Antibody tests. These tests measure antibodies in the blood. Material for testing is collected by a blood test from drawing blood at your arm or from a finger stick. Depending on which antibodies are being measured, these tests can tell if your body has begun to fight a COVID-19 infection or if you have had an infection for several days. They are good for determining if you have had COVID-19 for a period of time. However, they may not be a reliable way to tell if you have a current infection. They are also not a reliable way to be sure you do not currently have COVID-19. Additional testing may be needed to exclude an infection.
COVID-19 vaccines and types: A vaccine works by exposing the body’s immune system to a new antigen, which leads to the production of antibodies against it. When or if the actual disease antigen later enters the body, the immune system will be able to recognise the antigen and send in the necessary antibodies to destroy or neutralize the pathogen. All vaccines work by exposing the body to molecules from the target pathogen to trigger the necessary immune response. In the case of COVID-19, the different types of vaccines currently available achieve this initial exposure to the antigen in different ways..
Currently there are four main types of vaccines approved against the SARS-CoV-2 virus by global health authorities. All of these vaccines train the body’s immune system against a very small and specific piece of antigen from the virus — the ‘spike’ (S) protein that the SARS-CoV-2 virus uses to gain entry to our cells.
Messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines, such as those manufactured by Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna, provide cells in the body with the genetic code to manufacture the S-protein. Viral vector vaccines, such as the Oxford/AstraZeneca, Sputnik V and Janssen/Johnson & Johnson vaccines, do the same thing, but introduce these instructions into our cells using a disabled common cold virus.
Several other companies, including the Chinese Sinopharm and Indian Bharat Biotech, have developed inactivated virus vaccines against COVID-19, which contain whole viruses, but whose genetic material have been destroyed by heat, chemicals or radiation so they cannot infect cells and replicate, meaning they too cannot trigger COVID-19. And, finally, there are protein subunit vaccines, such as the Novavax vaccine, which use fragments of purified viral protein as the antigen to generate antibodies.
Though all the vaccines approved at the moment incorporate viral proteins, or the instructions for making them, they do not contain any live virus and are thus incapable of inducing COVID-19 in those vaccinated. So the contention by some people that the vaccinations cause the spread of infections is disingenuous and spurious.
However, it is true that in some cases the vaccines may trigger side-effects such as a sore arm or mild fever, which is also a good sign as it shows that the vaccine is working as intended.
SAR-CoV-2 virus variants: Around 6,000 variants of SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19 have been detected around the world as of March 2021. A variant could be described as an individual ‘strain’ of the virus that has a particular set of mutations. Experts prefer to use the term ‘variant’ rather than strain or mutants.
Most of these variants are innocuous, and not considered as ‘variants of concern’.
However, some of these variants are concerning because they can spread between people who are immune from first-wave of infections, or which can spread between people much faster than the original SARS-CoV-2 virus. ‘Scariant’ is a new term coined by scientists to describe media reports that blow up reports of the discovery of each new COVID-19 virus variant as if it were the apocalypse.
Effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines: Most vaccines developed against COVID-19 have a high level of effectiveness in preventing infection by the SARS-CoV2 virus in real-world conditions. While the hope is that vaccinations being administered now will maintain their effectiveness over time, at the moment it is not exactly clear how long the protection will last. It is also not certain if booster shots may be needed down the road, or if vaccines will have to be tweaked to fight against emerging variants of the virus.
Pfizer-BioNTech said that the ongoing phase-3 clinical trial of its mRNA vaccine shows that strong immunization persists for at least six months among vaccinated individuals. The company also noted that the people involved in their study were the frontline workers and first-responders who were among the first to receive the vaccine more than six months ago. Company representatives added that a situation in which a booster shot may be needed in future, would not be because the effect from the first dose of vaccine fades but would likely be to provide protection against new variants of the virus that might emerge.
In addition to questions on long-term effectiveness, medical experts also warn that the vaccines available at present do not completely eliminate the risk of developing COVID-19. A recent report on 100 COVID-19 cases that occurred in vaccinated people in the US had raised some public alarm. However, vaccine manufacturers were quick to point out that such ‘breakthrough’ cases are expected and represent just a fraction of the millions of people who have been vaccinated so far.
Some vaccines, such as those for measles, mumps, and rubella, generally confer lifetime immunity. Others, such as the flu vaccine, require a new shot every year. At the moment it is not clear to which camp the COVID-19 vaccines fall. Because of this uncertainty, and irrespective of which type of vaccine you take, it is important to continue following the same precautionary and preventive guidelines issued by health authorities, including wearing a face mask, maintaining social distancing, avoiding unnecessary congregations, and regularly washing your hands and face to prevent spreading COVID-19 to others who have not been vaccinated.
In the meantime, we ask all our readers to take care and stay safe.