Vahe H. Apelian
Sometimes in my childhood, most likely in the 1950’s, I remember that the beaches in Lebanon closed and swimming was not allowed due to fear of polio virus. Apparently people could contract the virus swimming.
It was during the summer of 1921, when Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) was enjoying sailing and swimming at their lake cottage his wealthy parents had bought in New Brunswick, Canada when he manifested symptoms and could no longer hold himself in water. He was diagnosed having been afflicted with the debilitating “infantile paralysis”, i.e. polio.
At the time, FDR was dashingly handsome 39 years old upcoming politician. Polio virus , which affected mostly children, had not spared him. He removed himself from politics and immersed in rehabilitation believing that by strenuous exercise he will overcome his paralysis. He never did and remained dependent on others for his basic needs.
Resolute, determined, he had a heavy iron support fabricated that clenched his legs up to his waist and when locked, it would hold his body erect and he could manage taking a few steps aided, especially by his son. The rest is one of the greatest achievements of human spirit. Historians regard him as one of the great U.S. presidents.
Polio is a highly infectious virus that mainly affects children. It was one the world’s most feared disease in the early 20th century. It is reported that in the U.S alone, it paralyzed 15,000 persons every year, until Dr. Jonas Salk discovered and had the polio vaccine approved for use in 1955, a decade after FDR’s death. The vaccine lead to 99% decrease in the polio worldwide. A decade letter Dr. Albert Sabin discovered the oral version of the polio vaccine.
For all practical purposes human endeavor vanquished the polio virus.
Will Covid-19 vaccine vanquish the virus?
Viruses are living things. Two properties characterize them. Their antigenic properties, that is to say the armor they wear; and their virulence, the genetic material the armor protects that causes the havoc. Our bodies recognize the armor as foreign and attack it ferociously. That is what the vaccines do. They help our bodies set up its defenses against that particular armor in advance. In case of polio virus, the armor remains the same. But in case of influenza virus, the armor undergoes changes. Hence we are advised to have influenza virus vaccine every year to prepare our bodies to fight the possible new armored influenza virus, but with polio virus, we need not.
It remains for science to find out in more details about Covid-19 and the way it works. Will it be polio like or influenza virus like? Our vaccination frequency will change accordingly. Scientific understanding and the discovery of an appropriate cure naturally take time and do not lend themselves to fast solution we seem to have grown expecting. Our impatience for fast solutions and resolutions just do not cut it. And we should beware of those who “promise the moon”.
Having said so, it appears that we are making progress on the Covid-19 vaccine front. Moderna labs, initiated by Noubar Efeyan, is reported to be on the front line and is reported making progress. He is an entrepreneur who hold a PhD degree in biomedical engineering from MIT and is a graduate of the Armenian Evangelical College high school in Beirut.
Vaccines are not the only arsenal we have. HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus), causing AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficient Disease Syndrome),was recognized in 1981. There is no HIV vaccine yet. It is estimated that 32 million people have died of the HIV/AIDS related diseases. But also, about 38 million people live with the disease and maintain a productive life thanks to advances in medications and their use.
It will not surprise me that along with vaccine, medical science will discover medications that will help us fight the Covid-19 virus. In the end our salvation is science and in the scientists who mostly remain away from the limelight and toil in the laboratory which, by the way, stresses labor and not oratory.
