For a country besieged for over a year by a virus that in addition to claiming over half a million lives, has also changed workstyles, dining, travel, civil engagements, education and national health practices, the US population, remarkable for their resilience, determination and facing up to the toughest challenges, appear to be seeing a light at the end of a long tunnel.

Apart from practicing fundamental changes to everyday living, the United States is seeking to achieve something higher- striving to return to a pre-COVID normal era. Fundamental to that endeavor is a multi-faceted approach, with vaccines being arguably, a major step. It is quite remarkable how rapidly research began to not only produce, but also test vaccines and then went further to render them safe and effective. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, vaccines from two major companies, Pfizer and Moderna have been authorized and recommended for use in the United states with at least three others in Phase 3 clinical trials.

With the American public beginning this exercise of getting vaccinated, there come many questions, one more relevant than probably many others, is addressed by the Director of the NIH, Dr. Francis Collins in his recent take (link provided below) on whether one dose of the vaccine is sufficient and whether a prior COVID infection affects the response to the vaccine.

In the last week of February, 2021, the FDA also appears to have granted emergency use authorization to Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine. One major difference between the J&J vaccine when compared to the other two approved vaccines is that the J&J type would only require a single dose