From Warp Speed to Turtle Racing

"Do I think we would be in this pickle if Donald Trump won his second term? Nope. I think the boosters would just be a part of Warp Speed. Biden however, is managing the booster issue with the same precision he handled our exit from Afghanistan." 

For those who had the Covid - 19 vaccine, you might want to skip over this article. My purpose in writing this was not to be pro nor anti-vax. But it does have to do with the Covid - 19 vaccine. That is, how the vaccine and politics have mixed together to make a witch's brew. So here we go.

Donald Trump knew this novel virus which was hitting the WestPac in late 2019 would be in the United States before we knew it. He also knew that for some in our population, it would be a stone cold killer. He wanted a vaccine available for those who wanted to take it. A vaccine where none currently existed. What could the federal government do to help? Plow the road. Shorten a very lengthy FDA approval process. Trump got two or three reputable companies to develop a mRNA virus and go to town. Trump would take care of the red tape and cost. Thus was born Operation Warp Speed.

What did getting a vaccination do for this country? It allowed us to go from being "locked down", to going back to some kind of normalcy. Pfizer and Moderna were the first two on the scene. Two shots of each for those who wanted it. One vaccine was three weeks apart, and the other four weeks apart. Two weeks after the second shot, we were suppose to be 95% "bulletproof". Johnson and Johnson also became available with a single shot. It was good, just not 95% good.

The question many asked when getting the shot was this - "How long would it last?" Or, "How long does the 95% efficacy last?" That was unknown at the start of this process. Now we have better knowledge. Five to eight months after the second shot before the protection starts to wane. Whereas Trump knew how to get the vaccine here in record time, Biden is clueless in how to get a booster on the scene. Israel does not seem to have a problem with it, but with Biden, our shoes are tied together.

Here are the two bits of medical advice I have heard in the past couple days by informed doctors. First, if you were in the first tranche to get vaccinated, your protection is probably started to wane. It is time for a booster shot. Second, wearing a cloth mask only offers you about 10% protection. If you wear one, and think you are doing yourself a favor, you are not. Surgical masks like N95 or N100 are much better (but not perfect). 

Biden wants us to be like Israel, and start giving out Pfizer boosters in late September. His own CDC is balking at that one. We need to test, we need to do this, we need to do that. And because Biden is in way over his head, nothing is happening. We are in Operation Turtle Racing, instead of Operation Warp Speed. Meanwhile, every day, the protection our first line medical professionals have - gets weaker.

September could be an interesting month. If we start getting breakthrough cases which are serious enough to require hospitalization, the panic button might get hit. Why? Because one of the great promises for being vaccinated we received if used this conditionally approval vaccine, was this - even if we got Covid - 19, the jab would keep us out of the hospital. If people who got the jab, end up getting sick enough to be hospitalized, it will be Katie bar the door.

Do I think we would be in this pickle if Donald Trump won his second term? Nope. I think the boosters would just be a part of Warp Speed. Biden however, is managing the booster issue with the same precision he handled our exit from Afghanistan.