Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor,

In the article on “Natural Ways to Beat COVID”, I was surprised that the two most natural and effective ways — getting a vaccine and wearing a mask — weren’t mentioned. What a strange oversight. 

The first vaccines 226 years ago were scraped from cowpox lesions, which are extremely natural. Thankfully we now have cleaner and safer ways to boost the immune system by synthesizing the same materials in laboratories, no lesion scraping needed. The actual substance of vaccines disappears from the body within hours, but the vaccine starts a process that teaches the body to fight off the coronavirus over many days with effects that last for months against infection and for years against serious illness and death. 

Vaccines allowed humans to eradicate smallpox in 1979, the first time that a virus has been made extinct and vast human suffering prevented. Polio is a disease my grandmother feared so much for her four little boys, and until recently we were on track to eradicate it, with endemic polio limited to two countries. Sadly anti-vaccine rhetoric led people in non-endemic countries not to vaccinate, and currently we have an active polio outbreak in New York City for the first time in decades. 

Masks are equally natural, just as natural as any other piece of clothing. Even somewhat ineffective masks worn by the entire population decrease transmission substantially, as shown in this math video, which is why cheesecloth masks were required in the 1918 flu pandemic. 

Wishing a happy and healthy next year to all.