So many losses. So many still sick. So many recovered. So many still in denial. So many moving around like it doesn’t exist. Still. So many misinformed. So many giving the wrong information—even colleagues. It has been a roller-coaster of a year. And at the end of it—a light. A vaccine. A vaccine that so many don’t trust, but that I took because I am exposed to too many, and I expose too many vulnerable people. A vaccine I will ask many people to take because without herd immunity we will never be able to move around anywhere close to normal again, and herd immunity takes mass vaccination—or mass infection, which means mass death, and that shouldn’t be an option. Yes, there is the absence of post-market research, but at this point, it seems benefits outweigh risks for most, and when you weigh the mental, emotional, economic turmoil this pandemic has caused, it seems worth the risk of a vaccine that is around 95% effective at preventing infection and thus far has no major side effects.
I’m excited about the prospect of having something to offer my patients when it comes to outpatient treatment. We have monoclonal antibodies to try to keep patients who are at high risk for poor outcomes out of the hospital. But I wouldn’t be honest if I didn’t admit I want more. I want an oral therapy to be able to give patients. I want answers for the ongoing symptoms some of my patients are having. I want to be able to give my patients a hug.
Where are we moving into 2020? Many promising things on the horizon, but in the middle of numbers ballooning, national leadership that has completely ignored the pandemic for the past month, and those of us in health care—we are tired. Mentally, emotionally, physically—tired. But we keep giving ourselves pep talks and pressing forward, for our patients, for society. Despite being paid less, despite many of our colleagues having to close their practices or becoming unemployed—we continue to fight. We continue to educate; we continue to care for the patients we can. We fight.
There’s a light at the end of the tunnel. There is. Hopefully everyone will help us walk into it.