Choice of Topic
An enormous number of intriguing research questions exist in the academic field; addressing them makes an essential contribution to the epidemiological knowledge system. However, choosing a specific topic for a future research paper requires careful planning and strategic consideration, as choosing an irrelevant, understudied issue can lead to a lack of qualitative information and an overall decline in the reliability of the study. Conversely, overly broad topics also have the potential to not lead the author to a specific, formulated conclusion, and thus the overall value of the entire study will be diminished. The strategy for selecting a topic for Unit VII took into account the requirements of topic specialization and the availability of sufficient research and evidence to address the issue in academic discourse. One of the most relevant topics in contemporary epidemiology that meets the above requirements is the COVID-19 pandemic.
It should be noted that COVID-19 is not a rare or exotic disease, but the rapid spread of this infection from the Chinese city of Wuhan led to the dramatic assignment of pandemic status to this disease. Encompassing virtually every country, the pandemic significantly changed the way of life of individuals and nations alike. The disease progressed rapidly, killing hundreds of thousands of patients and damaging the global economy. At the same time, the compulsion to adapt in the face of the pandemic led to a flowering of remote learning and work technologies, improved courier delivery services, and led to new socio-epidemiological norms (George et al., 2020). In the past two and a half years, people have seen with their own eyes how this disease has rapidly evolved. This evolution has been two-fold, as not only the infection itself has evolved, but also the societal themes surrounding it. In particular, COVID-19 evolved into several new mutant forms, and each new pandemic epidemic wave involved the emergence of a new strain, be it Delta, Omicron, Alpha, or other varieties. On the other hand, the pandemic evolved in terms of public perception of the problem itself. Issues of forced mask-wearing, quarantine, remote work and study, border closures, and especially vaccination were rapidly succeeding one another. It was the vaccination aspect that was chosen as an area for future research because it raises a myriad of related issues.
Thesis Consideration
The COVID-19 pandemic, which began in 2019 and still has a daily impact on all areas of life, was a severe public health issue. Epidemiologically, COVID-19 has become a typical respiratory disease, predominantly affecting patients from vulnerable groups and with chronic conditions (CDC, 2021). In this sense, the disease is not much different from seasonal influenza or cases of pneumonia periodically spreading in populations — but in the case of COVID-19, the disease proved to be more than just an epidemic and was able to plunge the entire world into a tense state of survival. A unique combination of factors made COVID-19 respiratory infection a serious public threat in the form of a pandemic whose impact was not limited to public health but was much broader. Today it is fair to assume that there is hardly a community that has not been directly or indirectly affected by the pandemic: hence, it is proper to speak of COVID-19 as a massive, catastrophic phase in the development of life in the last two and a half years.
Assigning such a character to this disease does not seem surprising when one considers all the potential causes and factors that have led to a mass pandemic. COVID-19, as mentioned earlier, is not in itself an endemic or rare disease. However, as with exotic infections, national health systems were not prepared for COVID-19 because the serotype, virulence factors, and even immune response mechanisms had not been studied before for this pathogen. In other words, the more recent 2019-nCoV virus has not been sufficiently studied by the academic community, so the rapid spread of the pathogen has led to dysfunctional public health systems and multiple deaths (CDC, 2021). Speaking of the potential reasons why COVID-19 has gained such a massive impact, it is impossible not to point out weaknesses in the design of public health systems. Lack of funding, insufficient legal regulation, and lack of long-term strategic planning could be the reasons why national health systems were not prepared for a pandemic outbreak. In the early weeks of COVID-19, when governments had already imposed social restrictions and developed health control regulations, many countries reported a lack of supplies of medical masks and gloves (Sun, 2020). In the face of this shortage, speculation occurred, resulting in grossly inflated costs for sterile protective masks. Therefore, such problems showed a lack of governmental concern and an elaborate system of preventive measures, which is why a common respiratory disease has become a pandemic, becoming a significant public health threat.
One of the main expectations of the COVID-19 pandemic was the development of vaccines that would substantially contain the rate of infection. Achieving collective immunity would have meant an interim victory over the pandemic since most of the population would then have developed immunity to the disease. Consequently, COVID-19 would no longer be considered a pandemic and would become just another seasonal infection affecting only a tiny fraction of communities. Speaking of vaccination against COVID-19, it is worth noting, first of all, the forced nature of the development of this preventive measure. When the pathogen was killing hundreds of thousands of patients, but no effective cure for the disease had yet been discovered, the vaccine remained the only effective tool to curb the pace of the pandemic. It is true that vaccination is not a form of cure, but it is a reliable and proven means of prevention. To develop quality vaccines, laboratory specialists first had to comprehensively study the serotype of the virus in order to investigate its virulence factors. Once the pathogen had been studied, the use of its own or recombinant agents as major vaccine components was realized for prophylactic purposes. Thus, humankind was finally able to obtain an effective tool for pandemic containment, which gave an advantage over COVID-19.
Nevertheless, it is fair to note the fact that the development of vaccines a year and a half after the Wuhan outbreak led to ambiguous results. From an epidemiological point of view, the multiplicity of vaccine preparations increased the availability of prophylaxis and seriously contributed to the formation of collective immunity. From the sociological point of view, the development of vaccines led to significant problems related to discrimination against certain groups. The discrimination caused by vaccines has been realized in several ways. First, it is paramount to recognize that many states have developed their own vaccines, whose mechanisms of action and composition are similar (Terry, 2021). However, because of political and economic factors, it has not been advantageous for governments to offer their populations the active use of vaccines from other nations, which was one of the first reasons for vaccination. It is well known that the WHO delayed certification of the Russian combination vaccine Gam-COVID-Vac for a long time, but the proven level of effectiveness of this vaccine is similar to standard counterparts, whether Moderna or Pfizer (Terry, 2021). Therefore, in the field of tourism, many countries prohibited tourists vaccinated with one type of vaccine from visiting their countries, although, from an epidemiological point of view, there was no difference in the status and nature of the vaccination among such tourists. In this case, it is geopolitical and economic discrimination sponsored by states and large pharmaceutical companies interested in the population buying their drugs.
Another reason for discrimination has been the compulsory nature of vaccination of specific categories of the population. It must be recognized that the concern for one’s own health is a priority and interest of the individual alone, but the compulsion to vaccinate raises multiple ethical and legal issues. Interested in building collective immunity, governments have forced budget workers, service providers, and health care workers to vaccinate involuntarily-it is well known that refusal to vaccinate can lead to termination of employment (Hsu, 2021). This type of discrimination significantly affects the shaping of the population’s relationship with the government and can contribute to undermining trust in the authorities.
A third discriminatory factor in relation to the topic under discussion is the status of vaccination. It is known that part of the world’s population has refused vaccines for a number of reasons, which may include religious and cultural factors, personal dislike, and distrust of the drugs. However, as the pandemic wanes, it is clear that this part of the population is on the losing end. External tourism is now possible only for fully vaccinated individuals, while unvaccinated people have to either refuse to travel or are subject to paid quarantine upon arrival in another country. Stigma is also reinforced against people who refuse the vaccine, as such individuals can be seen as irresponsible members of society. Clearly, this discriminatory factor divides the world community into two opposing armies and does not promote cultural unity.
Finally, regarding vaccination, there is substantial discrimination against those parts of society that do not have equal access to clinical services. It is well known that black people in the United States are vulnerable because, for socioeconomic reasons, they do not have access to vaccines (Ndugga et al., 2021). As a consequence, such people are not only further discriminated against as unvaccinated but are also more likely to die due to a lack of reliable prophylaxis against the disease. The four discriminatory factors discussed above related to the epidemiological agenda of vaccination against COVID-19 are disruptive and cause severe societal harm. In addition, it further divides people along epidemiological lines, which can lead to increased social tensions, crises, and uprisings. A detailed examination of the causes and consequences of this epidemiological discrimination is a central focus of the work to come.
Conclusion
References
CDC. (2021). COVID-19 overview and infection prevention and control priorities in non-U.S. healthcare settings. CDC. Web.
George, G., Lakhani, K., & Puranam, P. (2020). What has changed? The impact of Covid pandemic on the technology and innovation management research agenda. Journal of Management Studies, 57(8), 1754-1758.
Hsu, A. (2021). Thousands of workers are opting to get fired, rather than take the vaccine. NPR. Web.
Ndugga, N., Pham, O., Hill, L., Artiga, S., Alam, R., & Parker, N. (2021). Latest data on COVID-19 vaccinations race/ethnicity. Kaiser Family Foundation. Web.
Sun, L. H. (2020). Face mask shortage prompts CDC to loosen coronavirus guidance. NCBI. Web.
Terry, M. (2021). Comparing COVID-19 vaccines: Timelines, types and prices. BioSpace. Web.