COVID-19 and a Possible Vaccine

Blog

Dec 6

Disclaimer: There is no FDA-approved vaccine for COVID-19 as of the date of this post. There are several great candidates for approval, and several companies are currently working to ensure a safe and effective vaccine is available to protect individuals against this virus.

With everything going on in the current news, thoughts of vaccine safety are on many people’s minds. COVID-19 has changed the way that we are used to living, impacting the way we work, learn, and even socialize. Despite the ways that most people learned to cope during these last nine months, people might be getting a little anxious about returning to their “normal” lives (or at least some form of it.) Similar to the way the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way we usually go about our day-to-day activities, it has also changed the way a vaccine was brought forward.

A normal vaccine takes approximately 10-15 years for research and development, but the recent COVID-19 vaccine advancements from Moderna and Pzifer have been developed in less than one year. The only other vaccine that is required to be developed on a yearly basis is the flu vaccine because the influenza virus that produces the common flu mutates each year making previous vaccines ineffective. This speedy process can cause people to question the safety and efficacy of flu vaccines, but especially doubtful of a potential COVID-19 vaccine that has to be produced from scratch in record time. However, the reasons a typical vaccine takes so long to develop is usually due to logistical and administrative difficulties, including volunteer recruitment, funding, approvals, and regulations. All vaccines are created following highly regulated guidelines put forward by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and supported by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as well as other major healthcare organizations. Prior to approval from the FDA, a vaccine must go through a vigorous three-phase protocol to assess safety and effectiveness in clinical trials with human volunteers. After clinical trials, biomedical companies send over their raw data to the FDA, which runs its own analyses of the raw data according to their own standards to make sure the safety and efficacy reporting is correct.Then, the approval is sent and processed by the ACIP. After that, it finally makes its way to the public. Even after going to the public, vaccines are still monitored for ongoing unexpected adverse events in Phase 4.

So how did the Moderna and Pzifer develop potential COVID-19 vaccines so quickly? Are they safe? Should you take it? And if you want to take it… how and when will you receive it? The current administration launched “Operation Warp Speed” in conjunction with the HHS, FDA, CDC, BARDA, and DoD, all government institutions who work together to accomplish a COVID-19 vaccine. This initiative aimed to invest in and coordinate to create and deliver 300 million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine by January 2021. With more money being put into this effort, a large number of the initial burdens that are faced when creating a new vaccine were eradicated. Additionally, considering the dire need and public knowledge of COVID-19, many people volunteered to participate in the clinical trials, so that also helped speed up the process. If you do choose to take it, it is important to remember that as with the flu vaccine, you may experience initial side effects such as a mild fever or redness at the injection site. These side effects are common and not harmful. Despite initial side effects, participants in the research trials had positive outcomes of the vaccine. It is important to note that the COVID-19 vaccine will have to be administered in 2 doses. You must receive both doses of the vaccine for it to be considered effective in protecting you. Availability of the vaccine to the general public will vary based upon what state you live it, your likelihood of exposure to the virus, and the level of risk that the virus may pose to you. In New York, healthcare workers and residents of long-term care facilities will be the first to receive the vaccine, followed by other frontline workers, the aging population, and then the general public. For more information on your state’s guidelines, visit your local governments website.

At the end of the day, it is your right and responsibility to make decisions regarding your health that you feel comfortable with. Resources and access to information can assist in making an informed and educated decision. To read up on more regarding the safety and efficacy of vaccines, visit the websites listed below.

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/safety.html

https://www.hhs.gov/coronavirus/explaining-operation-warp-speed/index.html

https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/covid-19-vaccines

VaidehiCovid-19

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