In 1918, 114 men were arrested and fined for spitting in public. For the ones with fainted historical knowledge, it’s the time when the second and deadliest wave of flu pandemic hit us. The number of cases had suddenly spiked, and there was no sign of vaccine. The Health Department was desperate to curb the dangerously spreading disease. They had posted bulletins mentioning instructions to sneeze in a handkerchief and avoid becoming a part of crowds. They had also urged people to wash hands incessantly. During this time, masks first appeared on the picture. People began to wear it during their daily routines as part of their outfit.

The year is 2020 – it’s been over a century, and it seems like none of the medical triumphs matter anymore, and nothing has changed. We’re dealing with yet another virus, and so far it has no vaccine.

In fact, the actual prediction suggests that we shouldn’t be getting our hopes up for the future. We might have to wait till the winter or the summer of 2021 to expect the birth of the formidable vaccine.

Source: Business Insider

The medical miracle will hopefully provide us with immunity, but before that, many lives will be sacrificed. So far, millions of people are already dead. The deadly virus has shuttered cities and countries, emptied stadiums and schools, destabilized economies around the world, and caused a depression bigger than the one experienced in the 1930s. Hence, we don’t have just one problem to worry about. All of these issues are interrelated, and that’s a hard pill to swallow.

Many citizens are still in denial and finding solace in conspiracy theories. And the reality is that the disastrous results were only caused by the first wave of Coronavirus. Yes, many countries are easing the lockdown – South Korea, New Zealand, and China has somewhat returned back to the normal routine. But if you thought that the fight was over, then you’re certainly misguided.

“The history of humanity is punctuated by pandemics. This is just another chapter in that big volume.” –said Dr. Richard Gunderman, an M.D. and medical historian at Indiana University.

“In a modern society we have expected science to solve our problems and we’ve expected to have happy lives. But that’s not the norm in human history. Plagues and disease are a huge part of human history.” – Said DePaul University’s Klugman.

Virus, influenza, plagues aren’t unchartered territory for the human population. They’re all one and the same. However, our weakness is that we’re still unable to grapple with the truth of reality. We continue to neglect basic precautions instead of quashing the novel disease outbreaks like a pro. We keep repeating history.

Medicine has made vast improvements and contributed the most in human evolution. Doctors work like gods in the surgical rooms and save lives with scalpels in their hands which function like magical wands. Doctors are well-equipped to perform surgeries with the patient awake on the table. They stop the heart and bring the patient back to life. And they have made extensive improvements in finding a cure for deadly diseases like cancer and HIV.

“We haven’t experienced a pre-vaccine virus with this high level of mortality circulating in the community in a long time. And this is what it looks like.” – Explained Sara Keller, an infectious disease expert and assistant professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins Medicine.

However, despite all of the miraculous technologies and medical discoveries, it still takes time to produce an effective vaccine. The fastest vaccine that was ever approved was back in the 1960s for mumps – and that took four years. It forces us to think whether these inventions and latest technology is of any use to us at all. Despite so much information and knowledge, we’re helpless.

“We sometimes think of ourselves as the masters of nature. But we’re in it, not above it.” – Said Indiana University’s Gunderman.

This is not the time to mourn and curse our fates. It’s the time to fight our battle with arms blazing. If we go down, we will not go down without a fight. And that is exactly the kind of mindset our scientists carry right now! They’ve already conceived ten vaccines that have entered the phase of human trial. Apart from this, 123 other vaccine candidates are in line, waiting to present their model. Every day we get one step closer to finding the cure! Medical science might be unreliable at times, but it’s deceivable. We must remain patient and show empathy.

“We should have a lot of confidence in medicine. Those (polio vaccines and HIV drugs) were solved with a massive application of science.” – Said Edward Shorter, a professor of the history of medicine at the University of Toronto.

Thus, sooner or later, science always prevails!