Making progress & trust in science

I’m currently in Week 44 of work-from-home for my non-clinical job. I’ve said it before, and will re-iterate it now — I’m in a position of privilege to be able to work from home. But as an extrovert, I miss seeing people at work, randomly bumping into colleagues and friends, meeting new people over coffee, or “running down stairs” to pop into someone’s office. I also miss seeing friends and family. And I miss hugging people. We’ve made the decision to be pretty conservative in our social distancing. So we don’t eat inside at restaurants and work hard to limit our interactions within closed spaces. We work hard to follow the science because, while we better understand it today than we did 50 weeks ago, the science has not changed. I also continue my clinical work, and I’m grateful that I can do that and that I feel safe while practicing medicine — and I get some social interactions with colleagues and friends while I’m in the hospital as well. Clearly, the disconnect between seeing friends at the hospital but choosing not to socialize with them outside of the hospital is a tough one and requires some cognitive dissonance.

I hope in the coming months that that will get easier. That there will be some reprieve. That “covid fatigue” will convert to “covid relief” and that we may choose to spend more time with friends and family again soon.

The vaccines will become more available. While the initial scientific data on the vaccines shows both their safety and the efficacy (how well they work), there is still more to be learned. We will learn how well the vaccines prevent the spread of COVID-19. We will learn how well they work for children. And we will learn how to distribute them around the world. We will also learn more about why certain groups or parts of the population are reticent to receive the vaccine.

In the meantime, I’m proud to say that I — along with many other healthcare workers — have chosen to trust science and to receive the vaccine. I’m anxiously awaiting the second dose, which will provide more protection.