CME INDIA Presentation by Dr D P Prakash, FRCS, American Eyecare & Lasik Centre, Chennai. Contact: drdpamec@gmail.com

• Have been reading about the vaccine 💉 in almost every group including a dozen professional doctors only groups.
• I wanted to share my perspective as a doctor on this hoping that it might be of use to some.
• When COVID 🦠 was running amok and spreading like wild fire 🔥 every one of us were praying 🙏for a vaccine…. As early as possible. Even now it’s in its 2nd peak in many countries like USA 🇺🇸 & UK. But suddenly we hear from almost every whatsapp university certified specialist question the speed with which some vaccine 💉 was approved. I guess that’s basic human nature where in when we are starving we might eat anything but when the same hungry person is given a choice then he forgets the hunger and starts analysing which of the choice is better. The human mind always wants more, isn’t it!!
• Suddenly everyone knows about phase 2 or phase 3 vaccine trials and starts comparing the efficacy rates, complications incidence and ADI….  Adverse drug events. Such information is purely in research scientific domain but unfortunately today it’s become whatsapp time pass.
• If you in your whatsapp university educated PHD mind feel that you are not in any emergency 🚨 then you deny yourself that vaccine 💉. But you take that extra risk which your neighbours haven’t taken. That’s the bottom line Whether you WANT to be vaccinated or NOT is purely YOUR CHOICE. That’s the only FACT that you need to know. Everything else is relative.
• Your choice doesn’t depend on the vaccine 💉 its effectiveness or side effects but on your assessment of your RISK OF DYING FROM COVID. If you feel fairly comfortable with the assessment that you will not DIE OF COVID THEN YOU DONT NEED ANY VACCINE 💉. Every medicine you and your family have taken so far INCLUDING YOUR PARACETAMOL has so many side effects including irreversible KIDNEY FAILURE. Every antibiotic you have taken could’ve caused Allergic reaction that could have killed you. Every anaesthesia that someone in your family had before surgery could have caused complications like Paralysis of the breathing leading to death 💀.
• Mind you THESE ARE COMPLICATIONS KNOWN TO DOCTORS 🥼 FOR SO MANY YEARS. Yet we chose to give you these treatments.
• Children who got the measles could have become permanently a VEGETABLE DUE TO A CONDITION called SUB ACUTE SCLEROSING PAN ENCEPHALITIS- SSPE … Your Paediatrician gave your precious children the measles vaccine 💉 to prevent not only measles but also many complications arising from it.
• Does its sound intriguing to you that your own trusted doctor 👨‍⚕️ gave you something that could’ve potentially killed or paralysed you permanently? Wake up people. No medicine is 100% safe.
• Every treatment offered by your doctor 👨‍⚕️ is done in EXTREME GOOD FAITH to make you better. We doctor operate on a principal of RISK VERSUS BENEFIT. If the potential benefit outweighs the risk considerably then we give this in good faith. The reason we follow this approach is that we are NOT GOD, and we are still very very far from giving 100% safe treatment for EVERY DISEASE.

Coming back to the safety of the COVID VACCINES 💉…

• ALL THE VACCINES HAVE BEEN APPROVED ON AN EMERGENCY USE AUTHORISATION ONLY.

• This means that the scientific community have not had ADEQUATE TIME to analyse the safety and effectiveness of all these currently available vaccines in spite of the best of their Efforts knowledge and resources. So, it’s up to you to realise whether YOU ARE IN AN EMERGENCY 🚨 OR NOT.

• All governments around the world 🌍 know that YOU ARE IN AN EMERGENCY 🆘 that’s why you are offered THE OPTION FOR VACCINE 💉. How did the government know that is by looking at the millions of deaths caused by COVID IN just 1 year?

• If you feel that you are not in any emergency 🚨 then you deny yourself that vaccine 💉. But you take that extra risk which your neighbours haven’t taken. Even if you recover from a COVID infection you may suffer from LONG TERM COMPLICATIONS OF COVID LIKE THROMBO EMBOLISM AND LUNG FIBROSIS.
• We doctor now know that patients who recovered from a COVID infection are also suffering from complications due to abnormal clotting of blood 🩸 leading to pulmonary embolism and death too. Moreover, the lungs 🫁 of patients recovered from COVID infected patients too are likely to loose their capacity to expand due to fibrosis and scarring resulting in severe limitations to their active lifestyle. A COVID vaccine 💉 not only prevents COVID infection it also saves you from the long-term complications of COVID even if you were to recover.

Is the vaccine the solution for this COVID pandemic?

• In my opinion any vaccine 💉 including all the COVID vaccines are A PART OF THE SOLUTION. No vaccine can protect against any disease 100% of the time. This I state from our experience with viral infections like POLIO, MEASLES, INFLUENZA AND HIV.
• *A good N95 mask 😷 worn with 6 feet social distancing and hand hygiene can protect you 100% from COVID. *
• Unfortunately, we are tired of following the above after 1 year of trial. The most difficult thing to implement is the 6 feet SOCIAL DISTANCING because we are SOCIAL ANIMALS. We like to meet with fellow humans all the time. We cannot live in isolation or lockdown for much longer not because of the economic impact but more so due the MENTAL DISTRESS THAT IS CAUSED BY SOCIAL DISTANCING.
• The vaccine 💉 is an easier way of attaining the HERD IMMUNITY than the natural infection caused by corona virus 🦠. Any COVID vaccine 💉 is safer than getting infected with the virus and fighting for survival in an ICU with a ventilator in your throat. A vaccine is an additional safety like a helmet ⛑ for a 2-wheeler bi🏍 rider but has to be used with safe driving practice. The best helmet 🪖 cannot save you if you are a rash driver but can protect your head from an accidental fall. Look at the COVID vaccine as an additional safety measure along with MASKS, SOCIAL DISTANCING AND HAND HYGIENE, not as a replacement. This we have to accept until the world 🌍 develops HERD IMMUNITY from COVID just like SMALL POX OR POLIO.
• If you feel you are a safe DRIVER WHO DOES NOT NEED A HELMET ⛑ AND CAN STRICTLY FOLLOW THE 3 important steps – mask 😷, 6 feet ⬅️⬅️➡️➡️ distancing & Hand 🤚 hygiene- that will 100% protect you, then you probably can stay away from the vaccine until you are convinced. But that’s a decision ONLY YOU HAVE TO TAKE, not look for advice from WHATSAPP UNIVERSITY.
• A herd immunity is the only SURE SHOT WAY TO ELIMINATE COVID from the world 🌎 we live in. The reality is each one of us is part of this herd & It’s in each one ☝🏽 of our hands to help reach the herd immunity as soon as possible.
• Almost everyone wants Herd immunity but some want it without being part of the herd. Are you one of these people?
• Either get infected or get Vaccinated…. Or stay forever in a bubble distanced from other people. THE CHOICE IS YOURS.

CME INDIA Reacts to this POST

Dr H D Sharan, Ranchi:

Beg to differ sir. This is not about whatsapp University. Every scientist worth his name knows what happened to recipients of attenuated polio vaccine. There are guidelines even for emergency use authorisation. I am a 70 yrs. Old physician with multiple comorbidities fighting this battle on the front line.

Yes, I have been eagerly waiting for the vaccine to arrive but take my word, I will not take Covaxin if it is offered to me today or say till the report of its phase 3 trial is published.

Dr V K Paul says that it has been recommended because it will be effective against the UK strain. Do they have any scientific evidence? Will provide shortly, he says. Proponents of evidence-based medicine supporting this move is strange.

If these data were not necessary, why didn’t they roll it out immediately after the phase 2 trial?

Dr Keyur Acharya – intensivist, UK:

Very interesting perspective. There has always been tension between public health and civil liberties. In western countries TB, Cholera and other communicable diseases were dealt by giving special powers to state. In Gujarat, Epidemic Act came mainly to control Cholera. Same has been applied in part or whole at different stages in dealing with Malaria, Dengue etc.

Need for those measures became less and less as those diseases became less common and with rise of capitalistic individualistic societies and populistic policies of government. 

To what extent these epidemic acts are relevant to modern societies is matter of debate.  But national lockdowns are certainly examples of how state curbs our rights to fight pandemic.

From way things are going I would be asked something like vaccine passport for travel, hotel, conferences and public gatherings and I may not have a choice.

It’s just a question of how state judges pandemic situation and what mandates to put in place.

Dr Swati Srivastava, Jaipur:

UK had a lull for about 5 months, They are seeing nearly 60k cases per week and 26k Hosp admission. Higher than March and April.

Second phase can come anytime. Though does not seem to be soon, but still a strong possibility.

Vaccination is a requirement, I think, particularly as people are letting down guards.

Dr Ashok Kumar DM Neuro Ranchi:

Already, religious fanatics, irresponsible opposition, pseudoscience experts in politics and media   are   waiting to sabotage the vaccination. Any moment we will see some PIL in the Supreme court.

Dr Ambrish Mithal DM Endo, Delhi:

Once it rolls out and top doctors take it all will follow. In rural areas if they see leaders taking it, they will follow.

Dr Arpandev Bhattacharya Endo Bangalore: Flip side🤔

I am working from day one, seeing COVID patients admitted to hospital, post discharge and also continuing to work in clinic, obviously with standard precaution. Not taken any break other than IPL Semi and Final in Dubai for a week. By God’s grace so far so good…I am not sure I will take or not the vaccine🤫

Dr Gita Arora, MD medicine, Bharatpur, Rajasthan:

Vaccine is need of hour, ready for it.

Dr Manoj Saini MD Medicine & Dy Physician to President:

Every vaccination centre will be attached to Secondary and Tertiary level hospital to refer the patient in case of moderate to serious Adverse event following immunization…. Team of Physician, Cardiologist, Neurologist, Pulmonologist and Paediatrician will be there as AEFI Management team. Those who may develop side effects later on and reports to Hospital emergency of their own will be asked about history of recent covid 19 vaccination…All hospitals will soon be asked to maintain AEFI register in their Emergency room.

Dr Anu Jain, Ambala Can’t; Dr P R Parthasarathy, Chest Physician, Chennai; Dr Kapil Sud, MD Delhi; Dr Monica Gupta, Varanasi and many others say: Too good👌👌

Disclaimer

1. Please be alert that discussions in this article is based on general perception and available scientific sources.
2. To avoid confusion it is to be appreciated that everyone can have an opinion, which may not be scientifically correct. Such discussions help us to peep into right direction to some extent.

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