What is Pandemic Fatigue? Here’s How It Could Catch You Off Guard
by Shilpa Dubey | January 4, 2021, 17:03 IST
As we continue to reel under the impact of COVID-19, people who have remained homebound for about seven months are now suffering from ‘pandemic fatigue’. Emerging out of exhaustion and impatience, people are now experiencing this fatigue or burnout, thereby provoking apathy and restlessness. This stands especially true as the lockdown restrictions are being gradually lifted.
At a time when we are getting used to the ‘new normal’, pandemic triggered fatigue is making people exhibit indifference to the infection, which shouldn’t be the case; the COVID-19 infection cannot be taken lightly! Yes, we know now that we have created a vaccine. However, it can take months before the official vaccination process covers every citizen. Hence, staying safe and maintaining prescribed safety precautions is our only bet.
Victoria s success in controlling it by social restrictions is probably also what prompted British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to impose his own recent hard lockdown in England, Professor Purcell said.
The variant seen in Victoria, known as N501Y, has several key mutations also seen in the British and South African variants.
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âSome of the viruses that came out of hotel quarantine in Victoria had some of these key mutations,â said Professor Purcell.
Victoria s Health Department declined to comment.
Boris Johnson.
Credit:AP
The British variant, known as B.1.1.7, emerged in September and appears to sport an unusually large number of changes to its genetic code. A second variant, 501.V2, emerged independently in South Africa at about the same time with similar mutations.
COVID-19 vaccines are safe, even with long-term data lacking
Vaccines have been developed in record time, but medical experts say there has been no skimping on safety. Listen - 10:16
The first COVID-19 vaccineapproved for emergency use by the FDA isn t just a vaccine created in record time to combat the biggest pandemic in recent history. It s also a technological breakthrough that could change how we produce and deliver vaccines in the future.
The new vaccine, developed by biotech giant Pfizer and German startup BioNTech, uses messenger RNA, or mRNA, to stimulate the immune system into protecting against infection from the coronavirus. An extensive clinical trial with over 43,000 participants has shown Pfizer s vaccine to be safe and 95% effective against COVID-19. It heralds the beginning of the end for a pandemic that has killed over 1.6 million people across the world
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