My lover is dying.

We met late, both forty-two, both Elvis diehards, both into hiking through spectacular scenery in remote locations. The Inca Trail was endless shambolic staircases, an acute episode of food poisoning, and the coming together of two akin spirits. The priceless reward for such a brutal trek was not the breathtaking abandoned citadel of Machu Picchu, but the unparalleled joyful finality of discovering one’s soulmate.

We would go on to explore the planet together, trekking its tallest peaks hand in hand, from Tanzania to Tibet. We devoted hours of the working week to running and biking in preparation for the extreme elevations we would encounter during our annual high altitude expeditions. He and I crafted aerobic capacities to rival that of any Olympian; our bodies specialised in the ultra-efficient oxygenation of red blood cells.

How mercilessly ironic for him to be dying due to the failure of his lungs to provide him with sufficient oxygen.

My lover is dying of acute respiratory distress.

My lover, the man whose embrace evokes in me both a comforting familiarity like a ticking clock to a weaned pup, and a stoking of the flames of passion as though our romance were freshly forged. I know the coordinates of his every last crease and mole, could scrunch my eyes and trace his outline in precise detail, have learnt by heart the exact sag of his stomach, bulge of his biceps, sharp lines of his shinbones.

His body is not new, but we all know where beauty lies, and to this beholder it is a work of art encasing his precious soul; together they manifest as my fiercely cherished life partner.

Our love is not new either, yet it remains a vibrant shade of magenta. Never did it pale to pink, or worse yet, fade away entirely.

My lover is my heaven, my haven, my home.

My lover is dying in the hospital, alone.

Prior to this surreal era, we traversed a good portion of the globe together, though a number of further-flung destinations  – Reykjavik, Tenerife, Rapa Nui – are yet to be struck off the bucket list. They shall remain forever unstruck; what was once a potential future is now a wistful fantasy doomed to the confines of my grief-stricken imagination.

It was rare for either of us to travel alone, but with my mother’s recent ailing health, we agreed it was best I stay home while my lover journeyed to London to meet his newest nephew.

We weren’t to know he would be swept up in the middle of a pandemic and struggle to catch a return flight. We weren’t to know that upon landing he would commence a fortnight of hotel quarantine only to be diagnosed with coronavirus four days in. We weren’t to know his dry cough would deteriorate into a wet one and he would be hospitalised one week later.

My ardent anticipation of a joyful reunion crumbled to ashes on a forgotten hearth, bone-cold and empty.

The hospital is only fifteen kilometres from home, but it may as well be on Mars. I cannot go there, cannot see him, cannot touch him. I hadn’t seen him in two months, since he kissed me farewell at the airport with star-sprinkled eyes, eager to meet the new baby, reunite with his brother, discover more of London; to go, do, live.

Then I got the call, far too early in the day. I was still in bed, still sleeping on my own side even if my lover was not there to occupy the other. By keeping out of his space I could somehow pretend that he was in it, right where he belonged.

They had commenced palliative care, the nurse said. They didn’t expect him to see the other side of the weekend, she said.

His side of the bed would remain empty forever.

Its vastness was suddenly overwhelming, and I jettisoned myself from beneath the warm covers to collapse on the hardwood floor.

The nurse’s voice continued to flow. I was invited to come to the hospital and see him.

To see him!

I arrived almost before she had hung up.

My phone, my watch, my glasses were to be left in the car. My temperature was to be normal, my flu vaccination to be current, my name to be signed at the bottom of a lengthy disclaimer form. A nurse would supervise my donning of the required protective equipment, beginning with a white mask for my face and a net to restrain my hair. My first attempt at putting on the mask was deemed incorrect, and I was compelled to toss it into an overflowing bin and start over with a new one. Then sanitise my hands. Put on surgical booties to cover my shoes. Then sanitise my hands. Put on full body smock, sanitise hands. Then on with a plastic face shield and two pairs of latex gloves for good measure. I was done up like an astronaut, ready to enter an alien land.

The nurse led me through plastic-sheeted halls to my lover’s ward, told me I had exactly fifteen minutes, and warned me I may find the experience confronting. I was bursting out of my skin to see him, yet I was also apprehensive. This was the last time I would ever get to spend with him. This was so special, so bittersweet, so momentous; I wanted nothing to go wrong. I stepped through the doorway.

My lover was lying on a hospital bed. I was allowed no closer than one and a half metres.

His eyes were open.

His skin was grey.

His head, my lover’s sweet darling head, lolled to one side at an awkward angle.

He is on morphine, the nurse told me.

The man who held my heart was reduced to this broken, pitiful being before me. The man I had chosen to share my life with was slipping through the veil between this world and the next. The man in whose eyes I had always sought and found reassurance was trembling and feverish, and I could not comfort him. There was to be no touching, no proximity of any kind.

I spoke to him lovingly, soothingly, repeatedly, then as he failed to respond, urgently. Hidden beneath a mask and gown, I called to him, eyes welling upon the realisation.

He did not recognise me.

His breath was a rattlesnake, and when it burst into a fit of coughing the nurse whisked me from the room, allowing re-entry only once his breathing had stabilised.

I gazed forlornly at what was left of the man I loved, a crippled shell and woozy mind no longer fit to house his noble soul. The one with whom I had lain a thousand times was departing his earthbound vessel, was beyond my reach, beyond even my voice.

“It’s time to go,” the nurse said.

I could barely choke out a final farewell.

“Goodbye, my love.”

I don’t know if he heard me.

We should have been attending my niece’s wedding in Adelaide in December. Her mother, my sister, lost her husband two years ago, to a long battle with a brain tumour. She had to watch him slowly wither and decay over a period of many months. She was at his side from the time of diagnosis right through to the time of relinquishing her job to bathe, feed and wipe him like a baby. When he was finally dealt the mercy of death, she was at his bedside, playing him a soft score of his favourite tunes, stroking, soothing, whispering goodbye.

Would anyone play the King’s records for my lover, a soundtrack to his egress?

As I sit at home, numb with not knowing, my lover is erupting in pink secretions from the blood cells leaking into his airways. I crave news of his condition, yet dread it. He is drowning in his own fluids.

I miss him. I don’t think I can live without him.

We should have been celebrating his birthday with sponge cake in September, planting the garden with tomatoes in October, toasting our anniversary with moscato in November.

Instead, he is dying.

The two decades we spent in a divine state of oneness feel like an eternity, for I cannot remember what my life was like prior to his entering it. An eternity that was not long enough, however, as I dread to imagine a life without him, having known him, loved him, cherished him every day for the past twenty years.

How grateful I am for each priceless minute he and I were blessed with one another’s company. From those budding moments high in the Andes through to mundane evenings in living room silence, from the long Sunday afternoons of exuberant lovemaking to the hurried little good-bye pecks on the way out the door on work mornings; I am thankful for it all.

The manner in which this joy has all ended leaves me like the ruin of a war-torn city, lovelorn for its ill-fated citizens whose memories stalk the streets in the absence of their earthly bodies.

We all must one day die; certain knowledge of this is the penalty for being born human. While a premature emptying of the hourglass feels as though one has been shortchanged, no-one can know when their final grains of time will pass.

I am not bitter that the man I love more than I ever thought possible must depart this world so soon. But I am devastated I cannot be with him when he does.

My lover is dying, and I can’t even hold his hand.

Dreams keep brain refreshed

Tsai et al. Cerebral capillary blood flow upsurge during REM sleep is mediated by A2a receptors. Cell Reports, August 2021

New research has provided some fresh insights into why dreams are biologically so important. Scientists showed that capillary blood flow within the brain increases significantly while dreaming, which enhances neural waste removal and delivers more oxygen and nutrients.

The purpose of dreaming has always been very controversial. Dreams are typically composed of illogical scenarios, and they can be scary, cathartic, and sometimes even funny. Modern medicine has provided a great deal of evidence that sleeping helps the brain to reset, recharge, and process newly formed memories. But what about dreams? Dreams predominantly occur during the Rapid Eye Movement (REM) phase of sleep. To explore the specific biological processes during REM sleep, researchers in this study used a groundbreaking new technique that allowed them to watch in real-time the flow of blood throughout the brains of mice as they passed through the various stages of sleep. They specifically used a dye to make blood vessels in the brain visible under fluorescent light and imaged them live through a technique called “two-photon microscopy.” Using this approach they were able to directly observe red blood cells in capillaries of the cortex in non-anesthetized mice. Long hours of imaging sessions revealed the massive flow of red blood cells through brain capillaries, specifically during REM sleep, but not during other sleep states. Interestingly, when researchers woke up the mice during REM a stronger rebound REM with increased blood flow was followed as soon as mice fell back asleep. This suggests that the brain makes up for the lost time by increasing blood flow to facilitate brain refreshment. Reductions in neurovascular blood flow and lack of REM sleep are associated with dementia and Alzheimer’s onset. Further evidence suggests that dementia is linked with the buildup of neural waste and toxic proteins in the brain. These findings imply that high quality REM sleep and dreams are likely the key for keeping the mind sharp well into old ages.

The mathematics behind the geometry of an egg

Narushin et al. Egg and math: introducing a universal formula for egg shape. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, August 2021.

Eggs have always been considered a major food source in human history. They also have one of the most distinguished shapes in nature that can adapt to the most diverse environmental conditions including extreme heat, humidity, incubation with or without body heat, in or out of nests, and from very clean to highly infectious environments. Moreover, an egg has a remarkable shape that is large enough to grow an animal embryo inside, small enough to exit the body of 10,500 living bird species, not roll away once laid, and be structurally resilient enough to carry disproportional weight. Despite many efforts, a universal mathematical formula that define the shape of an egg with an equation has not been found until now. The shape of an egg is comprised of four geometric figures: sphere, ellipsoid, ovoid, and pyriform (also known as pear-shaped). The first three are clearly defined in mathematics but a formula for the pyriform profile had not been developed until now. To resolve this major problem researchers first developed a formula describing only the shape of a pear and then combined it with the current formula. The new universal formula for egg shape is now based on four parameters: egg length, maximum breadth, shift of the vertical axis, and the diameter at one quarter of the egg length. The generation of this new formula allows scientists to better understand not only what the egg itself looks like, but also how and why it was formed. Discovering the universal equation for such a sturdy, aerodynamic, and ultra-efficiently designed bio-structure is not only important to biology, but also to many other different fields ranging from the food industry to architectural engineering, agriculture, aeronautics, and even art.

Blue Foods: The key ingredient for ending world hunger in a sustainable future

Gephart et al. Environmental performance of blue foods. Nature, September 2021.
Short et al. Harnessing the diversity of small-scale actors is key to the future of aquatic food systems. Nature Food, September 2021.
Tigchelaar et al. Compound climate risks threaten aquatic food system benefits. Nature Food, September 2021.

A comprehensive evaluation of the aquatic foods sector by multiple studies has uncovered how fisheries and aquaculture can provide a healthy and sustainable diet with fair and resilient food systems around the world. Our current food systems are extremely fragile and even worsened due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They have been constantly weakened by outdated supply chains and become vulnerable to climate change. How can we protect the planet while producing sufficient and healthy food to nourish our growing population in these aggravating conditions? Searching for solutions, researchers decided to analyze data from hundreds of studies on a wide range of seafood (also named as blue food) species. Their findings demonstrate that blue foods rank higher than land animal source foods in terms of their nutritional benefits and potential for sustainability advantages. For example, compared to chickens, trouts have approximately 19 times more omega-3 fatty acids; oysters and mussels have 76 times more vitamin B-12 and five times more iron; and carps have nine times more calcium. But how can we increase the production and consumption of blue foods? The projected global demand for blue food will double by 2050. The existing gap could be primarily filled by increased aquaculture rather than by capture fisheries. Investing in innovation and improving aquacultures can potentially make blue foods cheaper to the consumer and generate a shift away from land-based foods like chicken, beef, and diary. Moreover, the major blue food species produced commercially in aquaculture, such as tilapia, salmon, catfish and carp, have environmental footprints comparable to chicken, the lowest-impact land animal meat. Blue food systems seem to be our best option to combat malnutrition, lower the environmental footprint of the food system, and provide livelihoods. Aquatic foods have been typically neglected by researchers and policymakers. Maybe it’s time to recognize and prioritize them.

Is hair graying reversible?

Rosenberg et al. Quantitative mapping of human hair greying and reversal in relation to life stress. eLife, June 2021.

A new study has found that the old rumor about why our hair turns gray is proven to have a scientific basis. Humans tend to lose hair color the older they get as the cells in our hair follicles stop producing the pigment melanin. But there have been many stories of even younger people’s hair losing color almost immediately after a stressful event. While some of these stories are just old fables some cases have also been documented by doctors. In a recent study, scientists collected 400 hair samples from 14 participants from age 9 to 39 with either “some grey hairs” or “two-colored hairs.” By using a newly developed high-resolution imaging technique, scientists were able to collect and compare tiny slices of single hair strands from volunteers. These slices of hair were later analyzed like the rings inside a tree, indirectly showing the health of the follicle as it formed the strand over time including the status of pigmentation. They then analyzed the color of each strand and compared it to the timing of their hair growth. Participants whose hair changed to gray reported experiencing a stressful period in their lives. On the other hand, participants whose gray hairs reversed back to having color reported feeling more relaxed at the time their hair sample was analyzed thus suggesting a link between stress and the graying process. It was found with one of the participants who went on vacation that five of his hairs reverted back to their original color during the vacation. While the color reversal process is intriguing it can only be possible if it is caught early enough in younger ages. There seems to be a window of opportunity during which graying is probably much more reversible than had been considered before. Reducing stress levels in a 70-year-old will likely not darken their hair, or increasing stress in a 10-year-old will be enough to tip their hair over the gray threshold. Although these findings are based on a relatively small sample size they still provided some important insights into the reversible dynamics of hair graying in humans.

Doomscrolling: Obsession with pain

Jezzini et al. A prefrontal network integrates preferences for advance information about uncertain rewards and punishments. Neuron, June 2021.

“Doomscrolling” or “Doomsurfing” describes the act of endlessly scrolling through predominantly negative news on social media. Unfortunately, this bad habit has become widespread during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is still unclear why some people seek out potentially bad news by doomscrolling through horrifying headlines while others try to stay away from negative information. In a recent study, researchers have explored

the underlying biology of a similar curiosity and dread behavior using monkeys. Researchers first used symbols to train monkeys to anticipate a potentially unpleasant event – a puff of air to the face. The first set of symbols alerted the monkeys that a puff of air was a possibility but with a highly variable degree of certainty. A second set of symbols eliminated the doubt, communicating that either a puff of air to the face was certain or nothing happened. Behavior analyses revealed that some monkeys trained their eyes on the second set of symbols while others averted their look in order to avoid the potentially bad news. A simultaneous monitoring of neural activity in the brains of the monkey models showed that the anterior cingulate cortex separately processes information about both good and bad possibilities. Meanwhile, a second area, the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, dictates the monkeys’ overall attitudes. Understanding the specific brain regions and circuits underlying uncertainty is a critical step for helping people with psychiatric conditions such as anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder, which typically manifest an inability to tolerate uncertainty. Moreover, these findings could bring new insights into how to cope with the flood of information in our modern times.

COVID-19 vaccines promise years of immunity

Turner et al. SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccines induce persistent germinal centre responses in humans. Nature. June 2021.

The first two COVID-19 vaccines authorized for emergency use by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, performed very well in clinical trials. But there were still concerns for how long immunity induced by these vaccines would last. A new study found evidence that the immune response to vaccines is both strong and potentially long-lasting. After vaccinations, a specialized structure called the germinal center forms in lymph nodes where broader ranges of B-cells are produced to fight against infections. These centers are immune cell training areas to better recognize the enemy. A better germinal center response is typically accepted as a better vaccine. Researchers found that people who received the Pfizer vaccine still had active germinal cells generating new fighter B-cells even after 4 months of the first injection. In a more longitudinal analysis, 8 out of 10 people still had detectable germinal centers containing B cells after 15 weeks of the first dose. Moreover, Pfizer vaccination generated high levels of neutralizing antibodies effective against at least 3 different major variants. Finally, they found that people who were infected and later vaccinated showed an even more robust immune response. The vaccine clearly adds extra benefit, even in the context of prior infection. The results suggest that a vast majority of vaccinated people will be protected over the long term, possibly a lifetime. One exception to this argument could be elderly people with weak immune systems. They may need additional boosters.

What is a vaccine?

A vaccine is a biological preparation that provides active acquired immunity to a particular infectious disease. The first vaccine was introduced by British physician Edward Jenner in 1796, who used the cowpox virus (vaccinia) to confer protection against smallpox, a related virus, in humans.

A vaccine typically contains an agent that resembles a disease-causing microorganism. It is often made from weakened or killed forms of the microbe, its toxins, or one of its proteins. Vaccines stimulate the body’s immune system to recognize the agent as a threat and destroy it. When the virulent version of an agent is encountered the body recognizes the protein coat on the virus and is prepared to respond. It first neutralizes the target agent before it can enter cells and then recognizes and destroys infected cells before that agent can multiply to vast numbers.

The administration of vaccines is called vaccination, and it is so far the most effective method of preventing infectious diseases. Vaccines help the body to produce antibodies, which are the human body’s defensive cells that fight off any foreign substances. We can produce antibodies on our own, but some infections, including mild ones like chickenpox, can cause some people to get very sick and die before enough antibodies are produced. Vaccination helps our bodies be prepared by “imitating” an infection so that antibodies can be formed before the infection gets deadly.

Vaccines for several diseases have been very successful and provided widespread immunity due to worldwide vaccination. For example, smallpox was eradicated by worldwide vaccination and several others such as polio, measles, and tetanus have been brought under control. The effectiveness of vaccination has been widely studied and verified. Some other vaccines including influenza, HPV, and chickenpox have been proven to be effective. The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that licensed vaccines are currently available for twenty-five different preventable infections.

In the 1950s, before polio vaccines were available, polio caused more than 15,000 cases of paralysis each year in the United States. Following the introduction of vaccines, trivalent inactivated poliovirus vaccine in 1955 and trivalent oral poliovirus vaccine in 1963, the number of polio cases fell rapidly to less than 100 in the 1960s and fewer than 10 in the 1970s. Vaccination has also reduced the number of measles infections by more than 99 percent. As well as preventing the spread of infection and protecting the people, vaccines also help prevent the development of antibiotic resistance.

Some vaccines require a second dose in order to build up a strong enough immunity, such as MMR vaccines for Covid-19. Others, such as the tetanus vaccine, require a “booster shot” after a certain amount of time because the immunity of the first vaccine decreases over time. In the case of the flu, the main targets of the immune response may change slightly from year to year depending on which flu virus strains are circulating most that year thus often requiring a new vaccine every year.

Vaccine types

Vaccines typically contain dead or inactivated organisms or purified products derived from these organisms. There are several types of vaccines in use each of which represent different strategies to reduce the risk of illness while retaining the ability to induce a beneficial immune response.

They contain either:

1. A weakened (attenuated) form of a pathogen.
2. An inactivated form of a pathogen.
3. Certain parts of a pathogen, such as its proteins.
4. A weakened toxin made by the pathogen.

Attenuated vaccine: Some vaccines contain live, attenuated microorganisms. Many of these are active viruses that have been cultivated under conditions that disable their virulent properties or closely related but less dangerous organisms used to produce a broad immune response.

Attenuated vaccines have some advantages and disadvantages. Attenuated, or live, weakened vaccines typically provoke more durable immunological responses. But they may not be safe for use in individuals with weak immunity. These vaccines may rarely mutate to a virulent form and cause disease.

Inactivated vaccine: Some vaccines contain inactivated, but previously virulent, micro-organisms that have been destroyed with chemicals, heat, or radiation. The vaccines for polio, hepatitis A, and rabies, as well most influenza vaccines are good examples of this type.

Toxoid vaccine: Toxoid vaccines are made from inactivated toxic compounds that cause illness rather than the micro-organism. Examples of toxoid-based vaccines include tetanus and diphtheria vaccines.

Subunit vaccine: Rather than introducing an inactivated or attenuated micro-organism to an immune system, a subunit vaccine uses a fragment of it to develop an immune response (hepatitis B, human papillomavirus vaccine).

Conjugate vaccine: Some bacteria have a polysaccharide outer coat that is poorly immunogenic. These outer coats are linked to toxoid proteins and the immune system is led to recognize the polysaccharide as if it were a protein antigen. This approach is used in the Haemophilus influenzae type B vaccine.

Outer membrane vesicle vaccines: Outer membrane vesicles are naturally immunogenic and can be manipulated to produce potent vaccines. Serotype B meningococcal disease vaccines are good example to this type.

Heterologous vaccines (Jennerian vaccines): These are vaccines that are pathogens of other animals that either do not cause disease or cause mild disease in the organism being treated. The classic example is Jenner’s use of cowpox to protect against smallpox. A current example is the use of BCG vaccine made from Mycobacterium bovis to protect against tuberculosis.

Viral vector vaccines: These vaccines use a safe virus to insert pathogen genes in the body to produce specific antigens, such as surface proteins, to stimulate an immune response.

RNA vaccines: An mRNA vaccine (or RNA vaccine) is a novel type of vaccine which is composed of the nucleic acid RNA packaged within a vector such as lipid nanoparticles. Many vaccines put a weakened or inactivated germ into our bodies to trigger an immune response. But instead, mRNA vaccines teach our cells how to make a protein or even just a piece of a protein that triggers an immune response inside our bodies. Among the COVID-19 vaccines are a number of RNA vaccines under development to combat the COVID-19 pandemic and some have received emergency use authorization in most countries.

Other contents of a vaccine

A vaccine dose contains many ingredients, very little of which is the active ingredient called the immunogen. Other ingredients are added to boost the immune response, to ensure safety or help with storage, and a tiny amount of leftover material from the manufacturing process. These materials can very rarely cause an allergic reaction in people who are very sensitive to them.

Adjuvants: Vaccines typically contain one or more adjuvants which are used to boost the immune response. This presents the antigen in such a way as to produce a greater action than the simple aqueous tetanus toxoid.

Preservatives: Vaccines may also contain preservatives to prevent contamination with bacteria or fungi.

Excipients: Beside the active vaccine itself, some excipients and residual manufacturing compounds are present or may be present in vaccine preparations (e.g. aluminum salts or gels antibiotics, egg proteins, formaldehyde monosodium glutamate). These are added to some vaccines to prevent the growth of bacteria during production and storage of the vaccine.

Vaccine licensing

A vaccine can be licensed after the successful conclusion of the development cycle and further successful clinical trials. Clinical Phases I–III are necessary for licensing and safety, immunoactivity, immunogenetic safety at a given specific dose should be demonstrated. Also, the effectiveness in preventing infection for populations that will be vaccinated should be proven. For each vaccine the time endurance or need for revaccination must be estimated. Vaccine manufacturers do not receive licensing until a complete clinical cycle of development and trials proves the vaccine is safe and has long-term effectiveness. Then, it has to be reviewed and licensed by a multinational or national regulatory organization.

Vaccination failure or adverse effects

Sometimes protection with vaccines fails because of failures in vaccine attenuation. It may be related with the host’s immune system as it simply does not respond adequately or at all. Lack of response commonly results from genetics, immune status, age, health, or nutritional status. Sometimes the host develops antibodies but the protection might not be adequate; immunity might develop too slowly to be effective in time; or the antibodies might not disable the pathogen completely. Additionally, there might be multiple strains of the pathogen not all of which are equally susceptible to the immune reaction. But even in this case, a partial, late, or weak immunity, may mitigate an infection and result in a lower death rate, milder complications from an infection, or faster recovery.

Vaccinations given to children, adolescents, or adults are considered safe. They may cause generally mild adverse effects. Some common side effects include fever, pain around the injection site, and muscle aches. Additionally, some individuals may be allergic to ingredients in the vaccine. Such reactions are exceptionally rare occurring in less than one in a million people for most vaccines. Severe reactions also tend to affect only certain populations such as persons whose immune systems are compromised by preexisting disease (e.g., HIV/AIDS) or who are undergoing chemotherapy.

Do vaccines cause autism?

Claims have been made that vaccines are responsible for certain adverse health conditions, particularly autism, speech disorders, and inflammatory bowel disease. Some of those claims focused on thimerosal, a mercury-containing compound used as a preservative in vaccines.

Thimerosal is a mercury-containing antimicrobial that is added to vials of vaccines that contain more than one dose to prevent contamination and growth of potentially harmful bacteria. Some people believed that autism was a form of mercury poisoning and was caused specifically by thimerosal in childhood vaccines. But those claims have been discredited. Because of all these accusations against thimerosal, it has been removed from most vaccines except multi-use influenza. Even in these vaccines, it was reduced to levels so that a single dose contained less than a microgram of mercury, a level similar to eating ten grams of canned tuna.

Misinformation and fear generated by false claims about associations between autism and vaccines had a significant impact on people regarding vaccine safety especially for kids. But in reality, most people in countries where vaccination is widespread have never experienced vaccine preventable diseases. In this case, the focus of concern for some people changed from the negative effects of vaccine preventable disease to the possible negative effects of the vaccines themselves.

Some concerns over the effects of vaccination led to decreasing levels of vaccination coverage in some areas of the world. As a result, not only were individuals susceptible to vaccine-preventable diseases, vaccination rates dropped low enough to cause losses of herd immunity thereby allowing outbreaks of disease.

Normally, germs can travel quickly through a community and make a lot of people sick. If enough people get sick it can lead to an outbreak. But when enough people are vaccinated against a certain disease, “herd immunity, aka community immunity, is formed and it becomes harder for that disease to spread to others. Community immunity is especially important for people who cannot get certain vaccines. For example, they may not be able to get a vaccine because they have weakened immune systems. Others may be allergic to certain vaccine ingredients. Newborn babies are too young to get some vaccines. Community immunity can help to protect vulnerable populations such as these ones.

If there are outbreaks of disease because of the lack of enough vaccination outbreaks may bring high costs to countries, especially in terms of health and medical care, economic strain, and loss of life. All of the world experienced this with the lack of a vaccine for COVID-19 disease in the first year of the virus’ spread.

Some people reject certain drugs or treatment methods on the grounds that they are not halal or kosher and do not comply with their beliefs. Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said that “God did not send down a disease without having sent down its cure.” This Prophetic statement indicates that there are remedies for every disease yet to be discovered by scientists. Many religious scholars rule that certain things that are forbidden under normal circumstances can be allowed in times of need, which in this case is the danger of death or the risk for loss of any organ. This rule should direct faithful scientists to work harder to find drugs or therapeutic methods that fit their beliefs.

In conclusion, vaccines protect our communities through collective immunity. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that immunization prevents between 2 to 3 million deaths each year. Ending vaccination could be very dangerous. Even in the 21st century, many vaccine-preventable deaths still occur because vaccines are not available to everyone. One of the missions of the World Health Organization is to increase vaccine availability to everyone including poor countries.

References

• https://www.infoplease.com/math-science/health/healthcare/vaccines
• https://health.clevelandclinic.org/vaccine-faqs-how-are-vaccines-developed-and-how-do-they-work/
• https://medlineplus.gov/vaccines.html
• https://www.healthline.com/health/vaccinations#if-we-stopped
• https://www.britannica.com/science/vaccine/Benefits-of-vaccination
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaccine