There is no shortcut

It has been almost two years since China reported the discovery of a new coronavirus, which we know as COVID-19 today. However, we have yet to put an end to its spread; instead, it seems to be spreading even more widely than before.

COVID-19 makes it clear. There is no shortcut. The only way to prevent a virus from spreading is to avoid giving it a host. And the way to avoid providing new hosts is to avoid human contact. There is no other way. Yes, vaccines can help our bodies better fight off infections, but we can still be hosts for the virus for a short period while our bodies are fighting off the virus.

This misconception of the vaccine being the silver bullet is a fallacy used by politicians to appear to be doing something. But no, instead of helping us to quell the spread of COVID-19, the "vaccines are helpful" message instead gave people false hopes that being vaccinated means we can go back to life as normal. We can't. At least, not until we have stopped COVID-19 from spreading. Vaccines will prevent us from becoming seriously ill. They will significantly lower the death rate. But they do not stop the virus.

Meanwhile, the world has bought into the false narrative that vaccines will bring us to the path of recovery. No. That is false hope. The only way out of the woods is to avoid human contact, until the virus dies out from not having any new hosts to infect. We need to bear with that short painful period when our actions and movements are severely limited. Only then will we be able to finally put an end to this.

Until then, we are only prolonging the pain. And the more we have false hopes in the vaccines, the more we think we are safe to interact with each other because we are vaccinated, the virus will teach us that we are wrong. The virus will teach us that, as long as we keep giving it hosts to infect, it will learn to mutate into new variants that can overcome whatever mechanisms we develop against it. One variant may spread easily but is less fatal. But there is no knowing when a variant will be become easier to spread and also more fatal.

There is no shortcut. Vaccines help, but they are not the solution. The solution is to avoid human contact as far as possible. If we cannot get that into our heads, we will never be out of the woods.