Some covid19 lessons

THE EDITOR: Covid19 has taught us and continues to teach us many many things. Here is another: a vaccine is a specific type of drug which teaches the body's immune system how to defeat a disease.

Once this education has been imparted, "memory cells" persist in the body, ready to initiate a rapid response if the pathogen (micro-organism that can cause disease) is encountered again.

A vaccine prompts long-term protection against a disease. Sometimes multiple doses are vital. Some vaccines require booster doses over time to ensure that enough well-functioning memory cells are present.

Drugs on the other hand, help the body to fight a disease or decrease the symptoms associated with it by influencing the immune system, but and this is a major difference, it does not cultivate this immune memory.

Nothing is of greater importance than the conservation of human lives.

AV RAMPERSAD

Princes Town