How safe is the Pfizer vaccine and how was it done so quickly?

The article was originally posted on Malaysiakini, with subscription-based to the full access. I have taken some points that I concern most.

Who or what are Pfizer and BioNTech - Pfizer is an American pharmaceutical giant and BioNTech is a German biotechnology company. The duo collaborated to develop a Covid-19 vaccine that uses messenger RNA (mRNA or messenger ribonucleic acid). In November last year, they announced that their vaccine candidate had 95 percent efficacy in a Phase III trial and subsequently published their findings in the New England Journal of Medicine. Officially, the vaccine is known as 'BNT162b2'.

How does the vaccine work - The basis of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is its mRNA. Simply put, many vaccines introduce a virus into the system to generate antibodies but this vaccine contains genetic instructions which make the body mount an immune response without the introduction of the virus.

How is this vaccine administered - By injection of one dose to the upper arm, followed by a second dose 21 days later.

How safe is the vaccine - This is out of 43,252 participants enrolled in the trial, about half who were assigned to receive the vaccine while the other half received the dummy treatment. Milder reactions typical for a working vaccine are more common, since they are designed to provoke an immune response. These include fatigue, headache, muscle pain, chills, joint pain and fever. Such reactions are more common among younger people, especially after the second dose. In most cases, these reactions dissipated in a couple of days. Following the vaccine rollout in the UK and the US, however, there had been reports that some vaccine recipients also suffered severe allergic reactions. For the record, VAERS is a publicly accessible database where US patients and clinicians can report adverse events that occur after vaccination.

Malaysia's National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (NPRA) has a similar system in place and publishes annual reports on the complaints it receives. The government also plans to use the MySejahtera app to collect reports on adverse reactions suspected to be linked to Covid-19 vaccines.

How effective is this vaccine? - The Pfizer-BioNTech clinical trial reported an efficacy rate of 52 percent after the first dose and 95 percent after the second dose. The benefits begin to become apparent about 14 days after the first dose.

How was it developed so quickly?

This boils down to reduced red tape, increased funding, and an ample supply volunteers signing up for vaccine trials. All these factors come together to ensure researchers can spend more time working and less time waiting.

Health systems specialist Dr Khor SK explained that much of the 10-year timeline for developing a typical vaccine is spent waiting for funding to come through and waiting for various committees to meet and grant the necessary approvals, rather than conducting research.

In contrast, governments and philanthropies have channelled more money into Covid-19 vaccine research than any other branch of science in 2020. Scientists were also able to build on previous research on vaccines and older coronaviruses, and there was a much greater degree of data sharing and competition to create the Covid-19 vaccine than other vaccines.

In addition, researchers at Pfizer, Moderna, and AstraZeneca were each able to recruit tens of thousands of volunteers for their respective clinical trials. Khor said such large numbers usually take two to five years to recruit, but finding volunteers in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic was much easier. “This vaccine is a triumph of science. After NPRA approvals, we should be confident in its safety.

 Why are children excluded from receiving the Covid-19 vaccine - The current crop of Covid-19 vaccines have yet to be tested on children under the age of 12, or in some cases, the tests are still ongoing and have yet to yield any results. In the case of the Pfizer vaccine, for example, the youngest participants are 16 years old. The government aims to vaccinate at least 70 percent of Malaysia’s population to achieve herd immunity against Covid-19.

 Is it compulsory - No. Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said Covid-19 vaccination will be voluntary. The vaccines will be made available for free to any Malaysian who wants it. Khairy Jamaluddin said the government is also considering whether to provide free vaccination for migrant workers, to help achieve the herd immunity target. 

Who will get the vaccines first - Khairy, who co-chairs the committee, said frontliners such as Health Ministry staff, police, armed forces, Immigration Department personnel and others will be among the first. Older folk and those with chronic diseases will also sit higher on the priority list as they are more susceptible to the worst effects of Covid-19 including a higher mortality rate. Those interested in the vaccine will be able to register their interest through the MySejahtera app and also use the app to monitor any side effects that may arise.

This instalment of KiniGuide was compiled by FAISAL ASYRAF.
URL: https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/558083

Seven Habits of Godly Life

Definition: 
A godly life - No longer seeking satisfaction through a sinful lifestyle, but now surrendered to God and His will for our life

Seven Habits:
1. A life of prayer (1:35-37)

 - connected & sensitive to God

2. Trust or Faith (Psalm 103:19, Proverbs 3:5-6) 

- build intimacy relationship with Him

3. Meditation on the Word of God (Psalm 63:6-8, 119:133)  

- keep us fresh, alert

4. Obey God (Deut 27:10) 

- obedience

5. Dependence upon the Holy Spirit (Eph 5:18, 4:30) 

- the Holy Spirit indwelling in you will empower you, give you courage

6. Giving to God and to others (Luke 6:38) 

- never in lack of anything

7. Forgiving other people (Eph 4:26-27. 30-32)

Conclusion:
Surrender. God will transform our life because He loves us.

Decision Making

from online source

Salvation is A Rescue Mission

Salvation is a comprehensive idea covering the process of God calling a person to a reconciling relationship, leading to repentance, forgiveness, new birth, and a life of following and learning from Jesus. This includes participating in his values and his mission. The culmination of this good life is stepping into the eternal state of an active life with him.
 
Salvation is the plot of history; it is a rescue mission. Salvation is God’s action, his project, and it includes the entire creation. The world’s alternative is to put the world right by good deeds and so to leave God out. To the secular mind, for God to conduct himself in the way he sees fit, even though great human minds cannot fathom it or agree with it, is scandalous. Many think of God as a megalomaniac because he violates their modern sensibilities (Isaiah 55:8-9; 1 Corinthians 1:18-25). But what it takes to turn around the world, save it, and rescue its people is a strong stomach and an absolute commitment. Salvation requires bloodshed. Can we agree then not to trivialize salvation by reducing it to whether a person is safe and secure in the arms of Christ based on a prayer or religious ritual prescribed by the priestly class?
 

 - Bill Hull & Brandon Cook, 

The Cost of Cheap Grace: Reclaiming the Value of Discipleship, 2020.

 

Understanding of 'Salvation by Grace Alone'

Like most clichés, “salvation by grace alone” isn’t wrong. Complicated ideas are often distilled into shorthand phrases to make them easier to access. Over time, however, such shorthand phrases can come to mean something much different from what their authors meant when they crafted them.
 
The following is what we consider the contemporary understanding of “salvation by grace alone.”
 
Salvation. A person is saved from their sins. Their sins are forgiven, and as a result, they gain admission to heaven. Salvation is thus a singular event focused exclusively on forgiveness of sin, partitioned off from any requirement for behavioral change.
 
By grace. Grace is a derivative of God’s mercy, and the greatest portion of it comes to us at our “point of salvation.” This often is called the moment you were “saved” or received new life, forgiveness, new birth—the big moment when you became a child of God. Grace is something you cannot seek or earn; you only receive it. The human’s relationship to grace is a passive one: God is the one who distributes it as he wills.
 
Alone. Alone contrasts grace with human effort. Life in Christ is separate from human action: There is nothing you can do to earn it, there is nothing you can do to lose it, and there is nothing you can do to supplement it. There is something powerful and right about each of these elements. They are profoundly true: All people need to be saved, salvation can only come about by God’s grace, and we are completely unable to achieve salvation on our own.
 

 - Bill Hull & Brandon Cook, 

The Cost of Cheap Grace: Reclaiming the Value of Discipleship, 2020.

 

'Salvation by Grace Alone' is A Cliché

“SALVATION BY GRACE ALONE.” It’s a modern theological cliché—by definition, “a phrase or opinion that is overused and betrays a lack of original thought.” This cliché has become the way you establish your bona fide evangelical credentials. It is meant to bolster a doctrine that emerged from the Reformation, that salvation has nothing to do with behavior. The phrase has provided a secure hiding place for millions, somewhere they could rest from the obvious labor the gospel requires. The divorcing of grace from behavior is responsible for the church relieving itself of the moral burden to live better and be better than the general population. Dietrich Bonhoeffer applied his stinging rebuke of this development in his 1937 manual for ministers, The Cost of Discipleship.

 Cheap grace means justification of sin but not of the sinner. . . . The church that teaches this doctrine of grace thereby confers such grace upon itself. The world finds in this church a cheap cover-up for its sins.

There are actually Christians who proudly proclaim that they are no better behaved than people of other religions or no religions at all. If this is the gospel—that you are saved, you get your sins forgiven, and you gain entrance into heaven but that your morality, behavior, and the collective contribution of the church will not improve life on earth—why would anyone be interested? Any honest person with moral integrity would be repulsed by such an idea. Skeptics would (rightly) say, “Christians go to heaven regardless of life and conduct, but non-Christians go to hell forever, even if they live better and contribute more to society.” Even flawed humans reserve life sentences for only the most heinous crimes.
 
So we can conclude that “salvation by grace alone” is a cliché: It clearly reveals a lack of thought.
 
“Salvation by grace alone” protects the option to live as a partial Christian—to take advantage of religious goods and services, the assurance of heaven, the immediate and unconditional availability of forgiveness. You can come and go as you please, live a selfish life, be critical of the church and its leadership but not help solve the problem—and still get Communion.
 

- Bill Hull & Brandon Cook, 

The Cost of Cheap Grace: Reclaiming the Value of Discipleship, 2020.

笔记：我的第一本人生规划手册

1.用“生命时钟”模型，认清自己的人生规划
 
你没办法好好创业成功，是因为你没有一支执行力非常强悍的团队来落地结果；如果想养一个团队，你必须有一个特别好的营利性项目，而且你得负责协同和跟进；如果你没有跟进和管控一个项目的能力，是因为你不懂统筹协调，没有相关的管理能力；如果你统筹协调的能力不好，就无法带好团队；如果你听话照做都做得一塌糊涂，那必然是你专业知识没有很好地掌握；为什么你很努力地学习专业知识却又学不会，很可能是你不知道自己的天赋优势是什么；如果自己发挥不出来自己的天赋优势，自己的童年大概率过得不怎么好。
  
在自己踏入社会工作之前，前20多年基本上是靠父母的收入来生存的；在我们结束劳动工作之后，后20多年基本上是靠自身的退休金和自身资源来生存的；而后续失去生活自理能力直到最后去世，基本上是靠自己的晚辈来照顾的。如果你父母收入不足以支撑你读完大学甚至深造，有很大概率你会早早踏入社会工作；如果你退休之后无法养活自己，那么退休后的20年你还得为自己的生计而奔波；如果你早年和孩子的关系处得不是很好，晚年在病床上也很难有善终。
 
2. 用“生命时钟”模型，理解自己的人生规划
 
当你的创业生涯规划无法开启的时候，那说明你的事业生涯还需要重修。当你的事业生涯规划无法发力的时候，那说明你的职业生涯规划没有做好积累。当你在困惑自己的职业生涯规划的时候，那说明你的学业生涯规划没有做好规划。当你在迷茫学什么专业的时候，那说明你自己都还没有想明白自己的天赋是什么。
 
3. 用“生命时钟”模型，重构自己的人生规划蓝图
 
当你开始意识到这个收入增长瓶颈问题之后就会发现，因为岗位薪酬设计和工作价值的关系，你大概率可能会被锁死在某一个范围内。如果你想要破局的话，唯一的方式就是重新学习可以承载3～10倍及以上收入的知识体系，或者切换到更高收益的行业跑道或公司。
 
4. 用“三条命”的维度思考自己的生命
 
三层死亡的意义分别是：生命意义上的生理死亡，行业意义上的社交死亡，以及被人遗忘的精神死亡。
 
5. 用角色拆分法，来分解当月任务
 
作为一个××××（角色），我想做×××（意图），并且希望在××××（时间期限）内，以××××（多少资源投入）的成本下，完成这个任务，这样我就可以得到××××（预期结果）。
 
6. 给自己留出一些空闲资源
 
正是因为你能够多留出一部分缓冲时间不去做任何事情，你的“认知带宽”才能站在全局角度思考问题，看清该做什么事情，不用做什么事情，这样才能够让你变得从容不迫。
 
7. 用“1—3—5工作法”来分类工作
 
你所要做的工作类事情无非就是三种，请记住，这时候你是一天中的工作角色。第一类事情是创造价值的工作，创作过程中不可以被他人干扰。第二类事情是你需要和他人协同互动才能推进的工作，另一方不在无法推进。第三类事情是附加值相对低的碎片任务，即使随时被打断都可以继续做的，并且有别于前两者必须你自己去做的事情，可以理解为番茄工作法。
 
一天上班的9小时的时间会被拆分成：3小时创造性任务、3小时沟通类任务，以及3小时左右的琐碎任务。当你开始用这样的分类方法量化自己的工作内容的时候，你就会知道，工作待办事项的性质是什么了。
 
8. 用“乐高积木法”来灵活安排任务
 
其实一天工作时间管理的诀窍无非就是先安排好70%的主线任务，剩下的30%灵活安排。
 
9. 如何复盘自己有没有成长
 
复盘的重要性在于，在下一次行动方案中打上补丁，优化行动方案，提升成功概率，复盘是复盘行动步骤，而不是自己的情绪。
 
10. 成人学习和学校教育的区别
 
教育理论家马尔科姆·诺尔斯（Malcolm.S.Knowles）在ASTD学习发展手册中提到的成年人学习有以下六个特点，具体如下。目标明确：学会权衡收益与代价，付出与收获。独立自主：希望独立学习，自主思考，而不是被灌输。经验学习：带入以往的经验，具有特定的思维和习惯。功利性：意识到学习的必要性时才会准备投入学习，不喜欢被强迫。任务驱动：跟工作任务相关的学习，喜欢实践性主题。问题驱动：喜欢现实的问题解决，愿意学习解决思路。
 
11. 如何反向渗透一个专业知识体系
 
当你开始进入这个阶段的时候，就会开始从专业知识有什么，开始慢慢转化到专业知识我会多少的排序阶段，即哪些专业知识我不用学了，因为已经融会贯通；哪些专业知识我学了，但是不知道怎么用；哪些专业知识我还不会，需要进一步学习；哪些专业知识我都不知道，需要抽出时间来学习。
 
12. 你在用哪一种交换法则来赚钱
 
出售自己的时间，换取金钱；使用自己的技术，换取金钱；整合自己的资源，换取金钱；搭建自己的平台，换取金钱。
 
13. 收入增长的第二阶段，拿技术换钱
 
“拿技术换钱”的最重要的特征就是：开始从重复性的体力换钱，切换到用脑力思考，用各种解决方案来帮助客户搞定定制化问题的方式来换钱。
 
14. 把“犯错积累”变成“试错积累”，你会信心百倍
 
何谓执行力，是理解了未来结果会怎么样之后的行动能力才叫执行力，这个能力不是效率，而是落地结果的能力。不少人误解了忙碌起来就是行动力，所以不少人犯拖延症的主要原因之一就是害怕结果犯错，所以在无限准备。
 

--- 柏永辉，《我的第一本人生规划手册》，2020.