2021 02 19
作者 Article by Joanne Loo
數算在醫療和科技方面的恩典
在疫症持續帶來憂慮和不便之際，讓我們數一數在醫療和科技兩方面令我們生活更容易的恩典。
現在流行疫症的病原是一種新的冠狀病毒，而科學家以往曾經研究類似的病毒。他們已經知道這些病毒用刺突蛋白來進入人的細胞裏。同時，因為分子生物學的進展，科學家在2020年1月時很快就能破解新冠病毒的全部基因碼。這資料讓研究人員設立測試病毒的方式，看看人們有沒有感染了病毒。既然有對刺突蛋白的認識，也知道它的基因資料，研究人員就可以馬上開始設計對抗新冠疫症的疫苗。
有些人覺得很難相信，新冠疫苗怎能這麽快就可以讓大眾接種呢？這就要歸功於過去幾十年和過去一年的功夫。最早面世的兩種新冠疫苗都是RNA疫苗，而RNA疫苗所需要的設計和生產時間比舊疫苗短。雖然新冠疫苗是首次有RNA疫苗獲批准在大眾中使用，但其實研究人員已經為這種疫苗進行測試和改進多年。還有，這次疫症大流行，政府和其他機構提供大量金錢用來發展疫苗。所以，在幾個星期之内就有候選疫苗，可以進行安全測試了。
互聯網和有關的通訊科技在這次疫症大流行中也幫了很多忙。我們有時用通訊工具來和親戚朋友保持聯絡或者解悶，而科學家亦用它來和世界各國的科學家合作，分享最新的發現。社交網站讓疫苗製造商招募足夠的志願參與者來測試新冠疫苗。在不同地區的公共衛生工作人員也要在網上一起工作抗疫。還有，如果我們沒有通訊科技（新的和舊的），政府官員怎樣向人們迅速廣泛地發送安全建議呢？
新冠疫症大流行是很糟糕的事，但醫療和科技的進步令過去一年好過得多了。讓我們為所有工作人員感恩。不論他們在前綫或是後方，他們都努力工作，讓大家生活得更好。願上帝繼續祝福他們，也給他們智慧。
Counting our blessings from the medical and technological fields
Even as the pandemic continues to bring worries and inconveniences, let us count the medical and technological blessings that have made our lives easier this past year.
The cause of the COVID-19 pandemic is a new coronavirus, and scientists have studied similar ones before. They already knew how these viruses use their “spike protein” to enter human cells. At the same time, advances in molecular biology allowed scientists to decipher the entire genetic code of this new coronavirus very quickly in January 2020. This information permitted researchers to develop the test that checks whether people are infected with the virus. With the knowledge about both the spike protein and its genetic code, researchers could get started right away on designing COVID-19 vaccines.
Some people have asked, in disbelief, how the COVID-19 vaccines could be available for public vaccination so soon. For that, we can credit the work done both in the past decades and in the past year. The first two COVID-19 vaccines made available to the world are RNA vaccines, which can be designed and manufactured in a much shorter time frame compared to older types of vaccines. Even though the COVID-19 vaccines are the first RNA vaccines to be approved for general use, researchers have in fact been testing and improving the technology for many years. In addition, when the current pandemic hit, governments and other organizations provided large amounts of money for vaccine development. Candidate vaccines therefore became ready for safety testing within weeks.
The Internet and related communication technologies have also been a great help in this pandemic. While we often use communication tools to keep in touch with family/friends and ward off boredom, scientists also use them to work together and share the latest discoveries with their international colleagues. Social media enabled vaccine companies to recruit enough volunteers speedily to test the COVID-19 vaccines. Public health staff from different regions worked together online to curb the pandemic. As well, if we do not have communication technologies, both new and old, how would government officials send safety advice quickly and widely to people?
The COVID-19 pandemic is terrible, but medical and technological advances have made this past year much better than it could have been. Let us give thanks for all the workers—on the front lines and behind the scenes—who have worked so hard to make life better. May God continue to bless them and give them wisdom.