I’m not a virologist but COVID 19 is a type of coronavirus. Coronaviruses (CoVs) are enveloped positive-sense RNA viruses, and are characterized by club like spikes that project from their surface, a large RNA genome and a unique strategy for replication.
As an RNA virus, rather than a DNA virus, COVID 19 is more prone to mutations which we have seen and which is why new vaccines are necessary to be effective against the newly emerging strains ( mutated COVID 19).
While COVID 19 is a unique virus, it is indeed related to SARS virus and is also called SARS‐CoV‐2. The fact that it is closely related to a previously identified virus, creating a vaccine against it was faster and easier, as are the updated vaccines.
Because it is a new or novel virus and because of the fact that people fly all over the world, the virus had the opportunity to infect people all over the world. Unfortunately for the US and also for the world, Trump dismantled the very organizations which were in place precisely to help quickly identify and discover treatments and vaccines against pathogens likely to result in a pandemic. On the plus side, Trump did allow the rapid facilitation of the vaccine even if he simultaneously touted all sorts of nonsense about the severity, risks, method of transmission and treatment while disparaging Dr Fauci for actually addressing the issues related to treatment and prevention.
Of course isolation and masking were disruptive and unpleasant and caused hardship, particularly for students and children of all ages who were not able to continue their usual activities and education—and their parents who had to simultaneously care for their children, provide education and still work, whether from home or in person,
Because of Trump’s nonsense, hundreds of thousands became ill and hundreds of thousands in this country alone died. They included not only older adults ( one of my cousins died from COVID contracted while attending the funeral of a friend who died from COVID. His family had the good sense to refuse to hold a public funeral to not further contribute to the spread. A young man whose wedding I had just attended a year or two earlier died from COVID because he and his wife were advised to not be vaccinated because they were trying to conceive. Because of so much disinformation that was being spread. Not to be confused with emerging information as scientists worked to learn more about the virus and how to effectively prevent its spread.
It is sad—no tragic—that people are still willing to believe nonsense put forth by an ill educated man who did receive and will again receive the best state of the art medical care—at public expense—should he again contract COVID. Or the nonsense put forth by an individual who only has any public influence because some of his family members were famous politicians and who himself has zero medical training, zero expertise in virology or epidemiology and who has a long history of drug use, a literal brain worm and a long history of bizarre and criminal behavior.
Seriously people! Most of the posters here are old enough to remember measles, mumps and rubella before there were effective vaccines! Hell, I almost died from pertussis when I was an infant! Why on earth parents today are refusing to spare their children the misery or the risks of serious illness and possible death or disability that could be prevented by a vaccine is beyond me!
Because someone named Kennedy says it’s bad to vaccinate? Because he saw a YouTube?
www.whitehouse.gov
