The COVID-19 pandemic.

It’s time for a little perspective.

Sure, if it weren’t for the buffoonery of the last administration, we might have better plans -like a national mask mandate- and better logistics for the vaccine delivery.  I mean, it’s more than a little disconcerting to know that as a compromised health senior that I am on a list- with no delivery date in sight, while those in similar situations in the next city (literally next door) are getting theirs.  Or, the city across the river, the one the GOP likes to claim can deliver nothing, is well along in its inoculation delivery.

But, still…

Consider these facts.

We had not 1- but 2- vaccines approved for emergency use (the criteria was developed in case they were only 50% effective) delivering 90+% effectiveness NINE months after the pandemic hit. Excuse me- in nine months time, scientists, engineers, physicians working together identified the novel virus, sequenced its genetic code, invented new treatments and vaccines to eradicate the virus, and effected world-wide clinical trials.

Reflect on that a moment.

Consider polio.  That took 20 years or so.  Mumps- from the time a vaccine was sought to development- involved a four year period.  The normal delivery time for vaccine development has been 15 years.

Oh, wait.  Both BioNTek (the Pfizer vaccine) and Moderna also developed the vaccine using a radically new technique.  Using messenger RNA.  A route that may speed other treatments in the future.

(AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson have vaccines imminent to delivery.  But, they use conventional techniques- the insertion of a protein inside an attenuated virus.  Even those developments are amazingly rapid.)

Let us also not forget that most folks thought the claims that a vaccine would be on the market before a year elapsed to be a pipe dream.  Except for those of us involved in its development.

Part of the reason is the way biochemical engineering and biotechnology have been progressing.  As opposed to other technologies, here we have folks jumping fences from academia to industry and back, from industry and academia to Contract Research Organizations (CRO), from medical practice to biotech, with PhD’s flourishing throughout.

These folks also rely on new technologies OUTSIDE of biotech to make these developments possible. Cloud computing and distributed sensors all allowed world-wide testing and development.  Obtaining ACCURATE data automatically that can be processed in real time, allowing for instantaneous decisions and changes.

Yes, it’s a brave new world.  But, don’t miss out on the wonders and breakthroughs that we are reaping while we complain that we don’t yet have our new normal.

Here’s to our first responders, who work desperately each day to avert the deaths and tribulations of our COVID sufferers.  Here’s to our pioneering biotechnologists that have made the vaccines and therapies to allow us to dream that the new normal is imminent.

By the way, this piece was written weeks ago.  But, my calculations say that by the end of the day, we may have been told that the J&J inoculation has passed muster.  Let’s see if my crystal ball is under full power.