Yes, I need a COVID vaccine to fix everything. But it’s unlikely

Not all vaccines are the same

Even in the first stages of an attack, virus protection is not immediate. It takes a few weeks for the immune system to organize its vitality in the form of antibodies that fight disease. Also, a vaccine that immunizes some people may not protect others. Once the vaccine is approved by the general public, it will be the first time it is given to a high-risk group that is not normally enrolled in safety trials, because it is difficult to identify the cause of adverse reactions in those populations.

“People tend to look for what is called a clean baseline in the study sample,” Kaplan said.

(After the vaccine is released, the Food and Drug Administration will carefully monitor the adverse effects to determine if the high-risk group is unresponsive.)

In addition, there is evidence that the vaccine does not work in some subpopulations. For example, people over the age of 60 do not build much of the immune response to influenza vaccination. The immune system of cancer patients often interferes with vaccine efficacy, Limited data It suggests that obesity reduces the effectiveness of vaccination. These groups are also most vulnerable to the worst consequences of a contract with Coronavirus.

TThere is a wide range of vaccine efficacy. Annual Flu vaccination It is at one end of the spectrum and is operating 40% to 60% of the time. On the other side, measles vaccine Approximately 93% is effective with one shot and 97% with two doses. The National Institutes of Health aims for 50% effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccination, but scientists do not know how long the vaccination will last.

Vaccinologists say that injections of coronavirus are likely to miss lifelong immunity.

Logistics obstacles

Despite the presence of vaccines, pharmaceutical companies need to produce billions of doses to treat people around the world. That is the case for just one shot. Many vaccines require multiple vaccines at least monthly to be effective.

“In the history of vaccines, all that was cholera, cervical cancer, and double-dose vaccines turned out to be neck pain,” Caplan said. “People do not obey.”

Making billions safe and reliable is difficult. The plant goes offline. Part failure. The shortage will probably occur.

“Providing adequate access to syringes, vials, stoppers, gloves, and even alcohol swabs will be “difficult,” said Dr. George C. Benjamin, a director of the American Public Health Association.

More bottlenecks can occur in distribution. Transporting, trucking, or flying vaccines around the world often requires deep freezing at temperatures below 112°C. Successful transportation requires technical expertise and careful planning, both of which are challenges in poor countries.

Troubled roll out The results of the first pandemic coronavirus test show how difficult it is to implement a mass vaccination program.

“Remember to vaccinate everyone in the world, which means that, like testing, it creates supply chain problems that must be addressed early in the process,” Benjamin said. He said.

Vaccine evasion

Once the truck delivers the vaccine to the doctor’s office, there is still no guarantee that people will get it. Recent NBC News poll Less than half of people in the United States have found that they will get a government-approved vaccine, 22% say they won’t, and 32% aren’t sure. In 2019, the World Health Organization will hesitate about vaccines threat To global health, and Anti-vaccine movement It has been Dissemination of false information Since the beginning of the outbreak.

Some people believe that doctors receive additional government subsidies and thus promote vaccination.

“most [people] Dr. Margot Savoy, a professor of family and community medicine at Temple University, said: “In some practices, it’s actually a proposition to lose money. People do it for the health of their people, not because they make a lot of money for it.”

Savoy says many low-income patients are worried about the vaccine being pushed to the poor People who test it.

“The continuing experience of systemic racism that continues to exist in the healthcare system means that we are not necessarily willing to trust the new vaccines that are emerging,” Savoy said.

If some communities are hesitant or lack of supply, the number of cases will increase even after scientists and authorities celebrate their success. This can give the false impression that it doesn’t work.

Early branding of the Federal Vaccine Initiative may not have helped the problem. The government called for efforts Operation warp speed..

Dr. Walter A. Orenstein, professor of medicine at Emory University, said: “It raises concerns that these vaccines will work at a much lower standard than other vaccines.”

The problem is jargon, and there are many formal safety protocols.

together

Even a small reduction in vaccination coverage can hinder the success of your vaccination program. The vaccine only works if almost everyone is in it. The epidemic of measles in northeastern New York last year is typical: the virus became established in the unvaccinated Orthodox Jewish community and was the longest documented Outbreak In the US since 2000.

Doctors estimate that approximately 60 to 70% of the human population need to be vaccinated to stop the coronavirus. This requires advanced planning, government unity, and extensive public health education. It is unclear if they will all be together exactly.

Dr. Paul Ofit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, said: “I’m no longer guessing about this virus.”

Much can go wrong, but he expects many to work because the vaccine is the best option for developing the immune system of the community.

Dr. Julie Morita, Executive Vice President of the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation, said: “We’ve had great success with the vaccine, so there are great expectations for this COVID vaccine.”

On the other hand, masking, social distance, and quarantine outbreaks continue to prevent deadly coronaviruses from running out of control and out of control.