Finance/Children

When will a corona vaccine be ready?

Hi Taylor - As nervous as I am for what’s going on right now, I’m also worried about next fall and the Taylor winter. It seems Kovar like the vaccine won’t be here for a while. Any information that might calm my nerves about that? - Melinda

Hey Melinda - Those are good concerns that I definitely share. I’ve got my family hunkering down to stay safe now, but it’s also important that our country doesn’t survive the first wave of this virus only to get hit harder by a second round. A vaccine will have a huge global impact, both for the obvious health reasons and also for the markets. A few things I’ve learned that will help us stay informed.

1. Vaccines don’t develop overnight. Because we’re so used to antibiotics and other medications that are just a quick prescription away, it’s hard for people to think about the science behind identifying a new strain of virus and then creating a medicine that will kill that foreign agent without hurting the infected person. Historically, reliable vaccines have taken at least five and as many as 15 years to make. That said, the Zika virus vaccine went to clinical trials after only seven months. With so many companies working to find a solution, I feel confident a viable treatment will arrive sooner than later. It might not feel soon enough, but we have to remember what a difficult task this is for our medical community.

2. The country of origin makes a difference. Something we have to remember is that wherever the vaccine is developed might see the most accessibility at first. Once the medicine exists, it still has to be manufactured. If it gets successfully created in Germany, more Germans than Americans will likely have access in the early going. This is mostly to say - don’t run to the mall the day you hear a vaccine in Norway has passed clinical trials. We need to keep our guard up until it’s clear the U.S. has a system for treatment in place. There will also be a cost associated with acquiring vast amounts of medicine, which will be both good and trying for different economic sectors.

3. The CEPI will help. The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations is actively funding medical research institutions in the U.S. and other countries, helping to make sure a vaccine is created and then produced on a massive scale. The CEPI wasn’t founded until 2017, so having this institution around at this moment in history will be hugely beneficial. My advice would be to stay patient instead of feeling scared. These are difficult times, but those of us who have our health should count our blessings while we wait for the next step in combating this virus. Stay safe!

Legal Disclaimer: Information presented is for educational purposes only and is not an offer or solicitation for the sale or purchase of any specific securities, investments, or investment strategies. Investments involve risk and, unless otherwise stated, are not guaranteed. Be sure to first consult with a qualified financial adviser and/or tax professional before implementing any strategy discussed herein. To submit a question to be answered in this column, please send it via email to Question@GoFarWithKovar.com or via USPS to Taylor Kovar, 415 S 1st St, Suite 300, Lufkin, TX 75901. One website is titled “How to Cope with Kids During Coronavirus.” Another, featuring a staged photo of an obviously frazzled mom with a toddler on her lap, tells the reader that “Parents are losing their minds having kids at home during coronavirus!” There’s yet another, advising on “How to Keep Kids Entertained During the Crisis.” On and on it goes, website after website counseling parents on how to deal with being confined at home with one’s kids. The early Twenty-First Century may be remembered as the “Age of the Personal Soap Opera.” A person makes a soap opera out of a life situation, claims victimhood, garners sympathy, manufactures more soap opera, garners more sympathy, and so on. Soap opera begets soap opera. Forty-plus years of counseling experience has taught me that once a person becomes caught in the soap opera loop, it is harder than hard to get out. For thousands of years, it was normal for children to be at home. It never occurred to parents that they might need “support” or advice to deal with that circumstance. Everyone was in the same sturdy boat. Furthermore, the boat had two paddles and was helmed by one or two adults who obviously knew how and in what direction to row. No one went running pellmell down the road screaming that their kids had pushed them over the edge. And then, along came television, day care, and something called “parenting,” one aspect of which is the understanding that good parents put children at the center of their attention and see to it that they are always occupied (meaningfully so), even entertained. Growing up, I was blessedly deprived of a mother who “parented.” My non-parenting mother, who was a single parent during most of my first seven years, did not put me at the center

of her attention and hardly felt it was her job to keep me occupied. That responsibility fell squarely on my little shoulders. “I’m bored, Mom.” John “Bored, eh? If you can’t find Rosemond something to do, I’ll find something for you to do.” And just like that, I found something to do, knowing that Mom’s solution would not be at all to my liking, as in “You’re going to wash the kitchen floor and if you’re still bored, I have plenty of other things with which to un-bore you.” Television has made both kids and parents lazy. Journalist Marie Winn termed it the “plug-in drug.” Her book of the same name was instrumental to my belated understanding of television’s devastating effect on the normal progression of development in a young child; specifically, how it throws a wet blanket on a child’s curiosity and motivation. Television – and now its demonic offspring, social media – also promotes the notion that a life without drama is a life without meaning. One of the dramas du jour is “Having my kids at home is shredding my sanity into itsybitsy pieces!” The solution, stop parenting. Turn off the television. It’s full of mostly junk programming and bad news anyway. Take your kids to a bookstore or a library. Buy them games they can play with one another. Teach them to play something non-electronic. Get them involved in hobbies. And don’t forget to assign each of them a routine of those oldfashioned things known as chores. Last I heard, chores still defeat boredom. Family psychologist John Rosemond: johnrosemond.com, p arentguru.com.

John Rosemond has worked with families, children, and parents since 1971 in the field of family psychology. In 1971, John earned his masters in psychology from Western Illinois University and was elected to the Phi Kappa Phi National Honor Society.

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