Will the development of a COVID-19 vaccine change attitudes towards vaccinations?
Karina Dembla
With the varying successes of both hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine as a COVD-19 treatment, the necessity for a vaccine to be developed against COVID-19 is amplified with every passing day spent in isolation and the extreme pressure placed on the healthcare system.
Researchers have halted their on-going projects and with an increase in government funding going to research, several laboratories are participating in the worldwide race to develop an anti-COVID-19 vaccine. Currently, 77 candidate vaccines are being tested on different animals such as hamsters, ferrets and monkeys. Promising results of a vaccine consisting of an inactivated version of the virus was seen in rhesus macaques as none developed a full infection upon exposure to the SARS CoV-2. However, the true efficacy of a vaccine can only be determined during human trials. As of 23rd of April, WHO reported 6 candidate vaccines starting clinical evaluation.
The recent initiation of human trials of a potential Covid-19 vaccine, ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, by Oxford University has caught the attention of many people, bringing out feelings of both hope and desperation. ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 is a genetically modified version of a chimp adenovirus containing surface proteins from the SARS CoV-2 that allows the body to develop an immune response and generate antibodies to these surface proteins. This prevents infection upon exposure with the SARS CoV-2 virus. The primary endpoints of these clinical trials is to determine both the efficacy and safety of the vaccine.
Safety concerns about the side effects of the vaccine have been and still is one of the most dominating factors contributing to a decline in vaccination rates and therefore an increase in outbreaks. For example, the increasing number of unvaccinated children in the previous decade aided various measle outbreaks in several countries, and by the start of 2019 more than 110, 000 measles cases were reported worldwide. However, the difference between measles and SARS CoV-2 is that measles did not result in an entire shutdown of society or the fear of leaving the house. Everyone, regardless of age, gender, religion or education level, has had to alter their usual routines to comply with the social distancing rules as it is currently the only way to stay safe. I can’t help but wonder whether people’s perception of vaccinations will change if successful outcomes are achieved from the anti-COVID-19 vaccine human trials. Will people still refrain from vaccinations and trust the contribution of herd immunity to protect them?
Herd immunity contains the spread of contagious diseases within a population where a sufficiently high percentage of individuals are immunized against the disease. Emphasis should be placed on the word ‘high percentage’ because if immunisation rates fall, virus outbreaks are bound to re-emerge. However, herd immunity is not as simple as it seems because people with similar perceptions about vaccinations, be it due to safety concerns, lack of information or religious reasons, tend to group together. In the case of the SARS CoV-2 virus, the presence of one infected person in a group where the minority are immunized will result in rapid spread of the virus and fatal consequences.
Currently, as researchers are working tirelessly to provide a vaccine, thought should be given on the means of changing the opinions of those supporting the anti-vaccine movement by the end of the isolation period.
References:
With the varying successes of both hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine as a COVD-19 treatment, the necessity for a vaccine to be developed against COVID-19 is amplified with every passing day spent in isolation and the extreme pressure placed on the healthcare system.
Researchers have halted their on-going projects and with an increase in government funding going to research, several laboratories are participating in the worldwide race to develop an anti-COVID-19 vaccine. Currently, 77 candidate vaccines are being tested on different animals such as hamsters, ferrets and monkeys. Promising results of a vaccine consisting of an inactivated version of the virus was seen in rhesus macaques as none developed a full infection upon exposure to the SARS CoV-2. However, the true efficacy of a vaccine can only be determined during human trials. As of 23rd of April, WHO reported 6 candidate vaccines starting clinical evaluation.
The recent initiation of human trials of a potential Covid-19 vaccine, ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, by Oxford University has caught the attention of many people, bringing out feelings of both hope and desperation. ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 is a genetically modified version of a chimp adenovirus containing surface proteins from the SARS CoV-2 that allows the body to develop an immune response and generate antibodies to these surface proteins. This prevents infection upon exposure with the SARS CoV-2 virus. The primary endpoints of these clinical trials is to determine both the efficacy and safety of the vaccine.
Safety concerns about the side effects of the vaccine have been and still is one of the most dominating factors contributing to a decline in vaccination rates and therefore an increase in outbreaks. For example, the increasing number of unvaccinated children in the previous decade aided various measle outbreaks in several countries, and by the start of 2019 more than 110, 000 measles cases were reported worldwide. However, the difference between measles and SARS CoV-2 is that measles did not result in an entire shutdown of society or the fear of leaving the house. Everyone, regardless of age, gender, religion or education level, has had to alter their usual routines to comply with the social distancing rules as it is currently the only way to stay safe. I can’t help but wonder whether people’s perception of vaccinations will change if successful outcomes are achieved from the anti-COVID-19 vaccine human trials. Will people still refrain from vaccinations and trust the contribution of herd immunity to protect them?
Herd immunity contains the spread of contagious diseases within a population where a sufficiently high percentage of individuals are immunized against the disease. Emphasis should be placed on the word ‘high percentage’ because if immunisation rates fall, virus outbreaks are bound to re-emerge. However, herd immunity is not as simple as it seems because people with similar perceptions about vaccinations, be it due to safety concerns, lack of information or religious reasons, tend to group together. In the case of the SARS CoV-2 virus, the presence of one infected person in a group where the minority are immunized will result in rapid spread of the virus and fatal consequences.
Currently, as researchers are working tirelessly to provide a vaccine, thought should be given on the means of changing the opinions of those supporting the anti-vaccine movement by the end of the isolation period.
References:
- https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/04/mice-hamsters-ferrets-monkeys-which-lab-animals-can-help-defeat-new-coronavirus
- https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/04/covid-19-vaccine-protects-monkeys-new-coronavirus-chinese-biotech-reports
- https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.04.17.046375v1.full.pdf
- https://www.who.int/blueprint/priority-diseases/key-action/draft-landscape-COVID-19-candidate-vaccines-23-April-2020.pdf?ua=1
- http://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2020-04-23-oxford-covid-19-vaccine-begins-human-trial-stage
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4869767/
- https://www.unicef.org.uk/press-releases/over-20-million-children-worldwide-missed-out-on-measles-vaccine-annually-in-past-8-years-creating-a-pathway-to-current-global-outbreaks-unicef/
- https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/who-china-joint-mission-on-covid-19-final-report.pdf
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