Covid Vaccine Update

Article Written and website edited by Misaki Tomiyama

Recently, there has been a lot of news about the recent Covid Vaccines and how they guarantee 90% or 95% protection. There has also been significant vaccine development in China as well- which some of the vaccines have already been administered.

The Pfizer/BioNtech vaccines were the first to reach a breakthrough and developed a potential CoronaVirus-19 vaccine. The vaccine has been more than 90% effective in those who have not had a prior respiratory disease infection. Around 23,000 people have been tested with the virus, and no safety concerns have arisen. These vaccines are RNA type vaccines.

How the mRNA vaccine works

Another possible vaccine that is being developed is the Moderna vaccine. The company ensured to protect 94.5% of the people. These vaccines are easier to store, and stay stable in -20C, compared to other vaccines like the Pfizer/BioNtech vaccines that need to be stored in -70C. The Moderna vaccine has been tested on 30,000 people, and half of the patients getting a placebo injection (the placebo effect is a treatment given to a patient, where the patient believes they are receiving an actual treatment, when it actually isn’t).

The Oxford University/AstraZeneca vaccine is also another possible vaccine that might be able to cure the virus. Even though the trials of this vaccine are still continuing, this vaccine has shown a strong immune response in older people. The UK has ordered 100 million doses of this vaccine, and it is the most easily transported vaccine- it only needs to be stored under normal refrigerator temperatures.

There are a few other vaccines that are being developed such as the Russian Sputnik V vaccine. Many companies are already starting their mass production of vaccines, but the trials need to be done in order to ensure the safety of these vaccines before they can be administered to the public. Dr June Raine of the UK Medicines and Healthcare products regulatory agency states that “The same high standards of safety, of effectiveness and quality will apply with whatever vaccine candidate will come to us. There is absolutely no chance that we will compromise on standards of safety or effectiveness.”

Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, Director-General, WHO says that “No one is safe Until everyone is safe”. It is believed that the demand for the vaccine when it first emerges will definitely surpass the supply, so the three of the most prominent global health organisations- WHO, Gavi and Cepi have come up with a system called Covax. This system ensures that no matter where people are in the world, the people who need the vaccine the most, for example, the elderly and people working in the medical industry, like the health workers will receive the vaccine first. They are aiming to supply 2 billion doses, to protect 1 million people. Many countries like the US and the UK however, have invested a lot of money in various vaccine developing pharmaceutical industries, to ensure that they get a specific number of vaccines, from various different organisations.

Credits-

Bbc.com

Webmd.com