Abstract
I believe that all members of the scientific community would acknowledge that the pandemic has impacted their personal life and careers. Although it is too early for a full accounting of the impact of the pandemic on science, this topic nevertheless deserves discussion.
I wear many hats: parent, spouse, son, (older) brother, physician-scientist, cancer-researcher, editor, dog breeder-owner-handler, rower, Cub Scout leader, and more recently, COVID-19 researcher. On multiple occasions—most notably with reference to my life as a parent and Cub Scout leader—I have noted, “There is no playbook for a Pandemic.” In reflection, both with poignancy and with reflection, my great-grandfather and I wore the same hat during pandemics—Boy Scout leaders. He headed a Boy Scout troop during the Influenza/1918 pandemic, and I now lead a Cub Scout pack during the COVID-19 pandemic. I have no direct knowledge of how his father (my great-grandfather) coped during that pandemic, as my grandfather died the year of my birth. Given the gap of 102 years between these pandemics, it is obvious that the changes in society, medicine, and technology present a very different playbook for a parent and a scientist today compared with 1918. The similarities are at times disconcerting: the battle over the role of masks in preventing the spread of disease, the battle of politicians vs public health officials, and the misunderstanding of public health laws to address the spread of disease.
While there are similarities, especially with how some members of society responded to both pandemics, the tools of science and media have evolved substantially in their impacts on the lives of parents and scientists. The spread of rumors, the spread of inaccurate information, and the spread of dangerous advice are no longer limited to the spoken word—person to person or over the radio or in newspapers—but is now spread and amplified via the Internet.
One observation the scientific community must address is the level and quality of science education in this country, particularly as it relates to the understanding of health and medicine by the general public. Understanding of basic disease spread and methods of mitigation and prevention is woefully inadequate. Although we teach science aggressively, we fail to effectively teach general principles of good health and the value of preventive medicine. The ignorance of the benefits and risk of vaccination and their overall impact on society have resulted in regular outbreaks of once nearly banished childhood diseases such as measles and whooping cough, not to mention the needless deaths of thousands of Americans due to baseless claims that vaccination may negatively impact fertility. The vast majority of people who refused the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine are in fact vaccinated for a long list of diseases.
The pandemic has highlighted the role of Peer Review. Although we would all acknowledge that peer review is imperfect, it serves an important role in assuring reproducible science. The pandemic has seen the release of a myriad of COVID-related preprints and a corresponding increased number of retractions, as the community attempts to provide scientific knowledge concerning SARS-CoV-2. The pandemic has highlighted the strengths and weaknesses of both preprint servers and peer review, and hopefully has made both the scientific community and the public more critical readers and expecting of both controls and reproducibility. As scientists, we have a duty to remind both the press and the public that preprints lack peer review and the final peer-reviewed manuscript may look very different and contain vastly different conclusions compared with the preprint version that often gets more publicity. This is the value added by rigorous peer review.
The challenge for the scientific community is what can we do to address the overwhelming inequality of healthcare access and technology. At the beginning of the pandemic, there was no obvious expectation that mRNA-based vaccines would be superior; however, it was clear from the outset that their distribution would be challenging. A year later, a disparity has emerged even among developed nations (the United States compared with other developed nations) and the chasm between developed nations and developing nations, who lack critical infrastructure necessary for the production and distribution of mRNA vaccines. Notably, it is in the setting of this chasm that the Delta and Omicron variants arose. Unfortunately, “cold-chain” distribution factors and access to both ingredients and manufacturing facilities are a substantial factor contributing to a gulf that we have yet to address. The translation of early-stage science and technology to clinical benefit and the intersection of economics remain an embarrassing failure. I routinely encounter ignorant claims of molecular technologies that will replace basic, effective diagnostic modalities, disconnected from the care paradigm of economics, access, and timeliness to improve overall health. For years, I have lectured on the topic of biomarker development with the mantra “better, faster, cheaper.” This mantra also applies to primary healthcare prevention. This stands in contrast to a healthcare industrial complex that is only focused on “better” but, failing to address speed and cost, is only amplifying healthcare disparity.
Finally, the pandemic has tested the fabric of modern society. The disruption of social activities and even the concept of space between individuals have been redefined. The definition of the workplace has transmuted from the workplace to home and will likely never return to the definition it once had for many people, with the ubiquitous tools of videoconferencing. During the pandemic, I have worked for 2 years now with people who live in my community, but I have never met in person. These changes are both bad and good. The good is the liberty they bring to us to define our workplace and worktime; however, the negatives are the lack of human contact that we thrive on. In addition, the pandemic has taught us humility—that we are not in control of the world. We are dependent on one another. The capacity to provide assistance and to ask for assistance in times of need is critical to community, and without community we are not fulfilled. Ultimately, we should be able to put aside our differences and work for a common goal—an end to death and suffering and disruption to our economy and social fabric.