The COVID-19 pandemic has been a deadly and serious viral outbreak that has officially left over 5 million dead worldwide and over 300 million infected. It has been difficult and scary for kids and adults both. As of January 2022 the true global death toll may be two or three times that number. The United States has the highest national death toll at over 700,000 casualties as COVID-19 has been the worst pandemic in US history. Countries that have fared the best during this time are those that administrated the vaccines to their people efficiently and also enforced public safety measures like mask mandates and social distancing and lock-downs. The hardest hit countries was the USA, India, Brazil, many in Europe, and Latin American countries. Pre-existing health inequalities have been magnified by COVID-19 statistics in the USA and elsewhere especially as lower income countries have had very low vaccine administration rates compared to high income countries. It is the worst pandemic on modern times that has effected everybody's life on the planet, with mask mandates, social distancing, and lock-downs becoming part of our normal vocabulary. Company offices have been closed, schools and colleges changing the the way they teach perhaps forever. It must be hard to be growing up during this COVID time for young people as this has been a virus that is everywhere and at the same time nowhere, it has crossed traditional divisions between people and nations, and has effected friend and foe alike. Hard-hit regions and nations have seen their front line health care staff overburdened and stretched to the limit. It has turned everyone, regardless of age gender race or social status, into a potential virus agent.
But in the spite of the enormous tragedy and loss of life and suffering, there remains a lot of positives we can take out of the situation. Scientists and doctors around the world have been heroically making efforts to solve the pandemic by learning more about coronaviruses, and the life saving COVID-19 vaccines were developed in record time. The global rapid response to SARS-COVID-19 will help humanity be better suited to handle future viral pandemics, especially with the new mRNA vaccine technology that was put to good use by leading biotech companies like "Pfizer" "Moderna" "BioNTech" and numerous others. The mRNA vaccine technology will apparently have many many more excellent medical uses beyond SARS-COVID-19 prevention. Biotech companies around the world are also able to modify the mRNA vaccines to adjust to the latest variants like the Delta variant and booster shots will eventually be administrated to most people to offer more protection from infection and death. In addition, numerous labs are working on antiviral treatments that will treat those already infected with COVID-19. So the two mainstay complementary treatments will be vaccines and antiviral treatments will hopefully end the crisis eventually.
Many experts predict that eventually this crisis will wind down and people will be required to take the COVID-19 vaccine as part of their normal annual immunizations. After the COVID-19 crisis winds down normal day to day workplace life and school environments may end up cleaner and more healthier due to more routine hand washing and antibacterial cleansing and the treatment of future viral outbreaks will be much better managed.
A lot of humanitarian and charity aid groups, in addition to the U. S. military, have been organizing mass distribution of vaccines and other essential medical supplies to vulnerable groups in the USA and other parts of the world.
UPDATE JULY 2023: The US Government recently declared the end of the public emergency for COVID-19. And Biotech researchers are making progress on the mRNA vaccine technology and are optimistic that a universal COVID vaccine can be developed that will protect against all future coronavirus variants and that it is already possible to prepare vaccines that will protect against future human coronaviruses that may emerge. Other good news is that scientists are developing a mRNA flu vaccine that will last for years and better protect against the flu. Some scientists also believe that a mRNA cancer vaccine is on the horizon that may cure many types of cancers and revolutionize cancer treatment, hopefully that pans out as that will save many lives and vastly improve cancer treatment. Many scientists are very optimistic about the medical potential of mRNA vaccines though it remains to be seen how much of that optimism leads to actual real new better medical treatments...For example some very optimistic studies from Moderna claim that they are developing an mRNA vaccine shot that will cure the common cold. That would be really wonderful if that becomes reality, but I think it is best to be cautious about such bold projections like that. I do hope Moderna is able to achieve that though as I would love to be rid of the sufferable symptoms of the common cold like coughing, sneezing, wheezing, fevers, runny nose, sore throat, body ache, etc. that probably everyone has had enough of and I certainly don't look forward to my next cold. 😂 LOL.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/01/health/mrna-vaccines-covid-future/index.html
https://www.wbur.org/commonhealth/2021/01/11/modified-mrna-future-treatments
https://www.verywellhealth.com/biden-administration-invests-in-pandemic-antiviral-pill-5190567
