The COVID-19 vaccine is safe, so hurry up and get started in Australia

Elderly care facilities are of particular concern. It is only a matter of time before the virus is brought into a geriatric care facility and has the inevitable consequences of serious COVID-19.

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The United Kingdom, the United States, the European Union and others have already launched vaccination programs using targeted campaigns to protect people at highest risk of infection and serious illness. Indeed, this is due to the surprisingly high prevalence and the emergence of more infected strains compared to Australia’s relatively good location.

However, a rapid transition to vaccination does not mean that the vaccine program is being deployed rapidly or that the rapid transition increases the risk.

Vaccine development for COVID-19 is rapid and efficient. Pfizer / BioNTech, Moderna, Sinopharm, Gamelaya Research Institute, and AstraZeneca / Oxford vaccines have been approved in various countries after successful Phase 3 trials have demonstrated efficacy ranging from 62% to 95%. I am.

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They were developed rapidly, as a result of a combination of factors, including large financial investments, and global collaboration with a parallel approach to vaccine development using a variety of old and new technologies. It does not compromise safety.

Two additional factors have enabled the rapid development of the COVID-19 vaccine without questioning quality. Phase 3 trials typically take years to accumulate enough infections to determine the efficacy and safety of the vaccine, involving tens of thousands of participants. For example, the RV144 trial, which evaluates HIV vaccine candidates in 16,395 volunteers, was conducted for 42 months.

However, due to high infection rates in the United Kingdom, the United States, Brazil, and other clinical trial sites, a rapid assessment of efficacy and safety was conducted within a few months of a Phase 3 COVID-19 study involving approximately 40,000 people per trial. Completed in.

The second factor is that humans easily elicit a strong immune response against the components of the COVID-19 vaccine, which is the SARS-CoV-2 antigen. In contrast, after more than 30 years of in-depth research, we are not even approaching the HIV vaccine, which may even be comparable to the lower limit of efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccine.

The rapid development of the COVID-19 vaccine is the result of outstanding scientific efforts, the ability to rapidly assess efficacy and safety, and the unique properties of the SARS-CoV-2 antigen.

Without a doubt, the question remains. Do these vaccines stop the infection? Do I need to re-vaccine the new vaccine once or twice a year? These questions are time consuming to understand as they observe the effectiveness of vaccinations around the world and monitor their long-term safety and efficacy.

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What we know is that vaccines help prevent serious illness. Approval from the US Food and Drug Administration, the European Medicines Agency, and the UK Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency is a testament to their safety and efficacy. On January 1, the World Health Organization approved the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine for emergency use to accelerate vaccine programs in developing countries.

If TGA moves faster, we can confidently advance our Australian vaccine schedule. Perhaps the problem is knowing which vaccines Australia currently has and the dose and timing sufficient to vaccinate more people.

Vaccines are the result of incredible international scientific efforts and are our only hope to initiate our “normal after COVID”.

Adjunct Professor Heidi Drummer is the director of the Burnet’s Lab’s Disease Eradication Program.