I am now very much pro-vaccination and not only that but very pro-mRNA vaccines and any other genetic manipulations for therapeutic purposes we can come up with.
Where were we? Ah, yes: Conspiracy theories. So, a few years ago, I had a healthy fear of genetically modified organisms and knew just enough to be informed and ignorant at the same time. Didn’t want them, didn’t want to eat them, the usual.
Then I ran across this Tanzanian called Dan Maeda, who does genetics work and he pretty much got me started on my conversion. By the time Covid-19 vaccines were hitting the shelves, I was rearing at the bit to get vaxxed and re-vaxxed. Sadly, I did not get my booster shots, which is what prompted this series in the first place.
The life of a writer-for-hire can take you many places. One such place for me was listening to an expert from the American Centers for Disease Control, an epidemiologist, tell us about how the next epidemic was anytime soon and that it would probably be a zoonotic disease and the likelihood of it being a respiratory disease was high. This was before Covid-19 hit and if I was a good conspiracy theorist I would subscribe to the idea that it was all a nefarious plan by evil scientists.
Thing is, I am a very good conspiracy theorist and ascribe to the belief that humans are generally too dumb to keep good secrets and too chaotic to organise a well-executed disease warfare plan. Aliens are the real question, not covid.
Also, biology is wild. Like, when we say that your life is a miracle, it really is. Everything from being a viable embryo that made it to birth, through the myriad threats of childhood disease into adulthood with a functioning immune system is incredible. You, yes, you, are an everyday miracle. You are… alive! I am alive, right now as I mildly resentfully work on my deadline.
Anyway, now knowing what I know about what is and isn’t possible in terms of medicine and GMOs and gratefully recovering from acute bronchitis brought on by a hellacious flu, I am now very much pro-vaccination and not only that but very pro-mRNA vaccines and any other genetic manipulations for therapeutic purposes we can come up with. And we have come up with some really good ones.
Like I said, HIV and malaria vaccines are in the pipeline using this very same genetic manipulation stuff we have been doing for a while now, as well as, I believe, some possible cancer vaccines.
Yes, the brave new world of less disease is around the corner… if we can just get past our fear and ignorance of science. As a dedicated social scientist, I have never felt more motivated to promote STEM.
Aside from the fact that this division of types of knowledge is artificial (I can science good, I just prefer the murky arts of human social engineering to the clean and dependable physical engineering things), nothing has ever held humanity back as often and as detrimentally as fear and ignorance.
As you can probably ken, I am stubborn. But if I can TED-Talk watch and read my way into understanding and embracing GMOs and especially vaccines helped by genetic manipulation, so can you. Let’s talk about it, fellow East Africans. There’s a beautiful future waiting for us if we only dare…
Elsie Eyakuze is an independent consultant and blogger for The Mikocheni Report; Email elsieeyakuze@gmail.com