FADE IN.
Act 1
INT. STUDY - NIGHT
PETER is watching TV. A WOMAN (20s) is being interviewed. We hear an ANCHOR introducing: ...the first volunteer to the clinical trial of a Chinese candidate vaccine, who agrees to talk in public...;and he woman's response:...I was asked not to talk about it....so strange...
PETER (V.O.): Oh, she was asked not to talk about it, but she's talking about it. Are clinical trial volunteers paid?
Peter surfs the web.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): The first documented instance of compensating a clinical trial volunteer was in 1667 in Samuel Pepys' diary.
Reading.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Depending on the duration of study, the level of hardship and risk, the compensation can be from a few hundred dollars to US$10,000 for just one study.
Reading.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): There's anecdotal evidence that 10% of the volunteers might have taken part in simultaneous studies without disclosing that to their recruiters.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): But there're others who volunteer to help advance medical research.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): In any event, to disclose what shouldn't be disclosed is a breach of confidence.
Act 2
INT. SLEEPING ROOM - DAY
Peter reads a notification on his phone screen.
PETER (V.O.): Oh, biologically, a coronavirus vaccine is unlikely to provide complete protection.
Reading.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): The candidate vaccines are just ways to activate our immune system without sickness.
Reading.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Getting a shot of any approved coronavirus vaccine in due course is like having survived without the sickness.
Reading.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): And the vaccine-induced immunity is generally weaker than immunity resulting from infection.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Ah, that echoes the Swedish rationale in handling the pandemic. But the rider is: only if the coronavirus doesn't kill you in the first place. Many old and vulnerable died because of the Swedish approach.
Reading.
PETER (V.O.)(Cont'd): While getting a shot in the muscle may induce our antibodies in the blood, they might not be able to prevent the coronavirus from entering our bodies via our respiratory systems.
Reading.
PETER (V.O.)(Cont'd): To boost the effectiveness of any coronavirus vaccine would require spraying the vaccine live into our noses.
Reading.
PETER (V.O.)(Cont'd): However, the spraying method won't be used unless the vaccine is fool-proof ie the vaccine (all based on the coronavirus in one way or another) won't become another virus that would spread and cause harm to others.
Reading.
PETER (V.O.)(Cont'd): And candidate vaccines may be approved for general use if they should prevent or reduce the sickness of at least 50% of the people who get it.
Reading.
PETER (V.O.)(Cont'd): The conventional success rate for vaccines against infectious diseases is 33.4%. And there're now 6 known candidate vaccines in Phase III clinical trials.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.)(Cont'd): If there're 2 to 3 approved coronavirus vaccines in months, what would be their actual value then?
Reading.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): They could protect the tissues deeper in the body eg lungs and they could check the infection from becoming worse.
Reflecting.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): But prevention is better than approximate cure.
Reflecting.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): So the better self-help strategy is to prevent ourselves from getting infected by taking all the precautionary health measures. We should also continue to keep fit.
Awakening.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): In late January this year, I thought the coronavirus pandemic, like the 2003 SARS, should be over by now, killing around 700 people worldwide.
Pondering.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): How wrong I was!
Peter looks disillusioned.
Act 3
INT. STUDY - NIGHT
Peter is watching TV news.
PETER (V.O.): Nowhere is coronavirus-free these days. Given its transmission capability, COVID-19 is unlikely to go away by itself miraculously.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Mass vaccination is still a solution. Phase III trials normally take 1-3 years to complete. Operation warp/sputnik speed would shorten that dramatically. Production and distribution, and people's uptake of any approved vaccines are problems in the pipeline.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Would I take the coronavirus vaccination when it is available in Hong Kong, China?
Thinking.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): If I want to travel overseas, it might be that I need to comply with any vaccination requirement.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Well, see how it goes.
Pondering.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): If I'm infected before there're any approved vaccine against COVID-19, I may ask to become a Phase III clinical trial volunteer.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): I won't volunteer for a paycheck though. And I will honour any non-disclosure agreement.
THE END
FADE OUT.
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