While BioNTech and Pfizer, as well as Moderna, are leading the race to develop a COVID-19 vaccine, other pharma companies — such as Sanofi, Sinovac and Johnson & Johnson — are expected to soon present candidates of their own.
According to the World Health Organization, 47 vaccines candidates are currently in clinical trials, of which 10 are in phase 3 efficacy trials. Russia has already registered two vaccines, one of which — Sputnik V — became available for public use in August. Experts, however, warn that this vaccine has been insufficiently tested.
Open questions
Many questions, however, remain unanswered. It is unclear, for instance, how effective these vaccines are, and how they affect individuals of different ages and those with pre-existing medical conditions. Little is known about whether the vaccines lead to long-term immunity, or if they can prevent severe, or indeed asymptomatic COVID-19 infections.
It is also not known how much the vaccines will cost, who will have access to them and in what quantity and at what time, and how they will be distributed around the globe.
Are the vaccines safe?
Independent monitoring groups registered no serious safety concerns with the vaccines being developed by BioNTech/Pfizer and Moderna. This does not, however, rule out the possibility of serious side effects occurring during large-scale testing, or when vaccines are given to persons with rare pre-existing health issues.
Intramuscular injections also bear to the risk of causing local reactions. Moreover, immune responses that entail the production of B cells and supportive T cells can lead to fever, chills, muscle aches or headaches.
In addition, both vaccines — BioNTech/Pfizer's BNT162b2 and Moderna's mRNA-1273 — belong to a new family of vaccines that so far has not been approved for medical use. They contain nucleoside-modified messenger RNA which functions as a blueprint for the virus spike protein. Once administered, the vaccine stimulates the human immune system to produce antibodies against this protein and thus the virus.
I believe we can. There are sufficient checks and balances in place to minimize risks from what I can tell
Dear @ Gürhan Abuhanoğlu
Excellent and very pertinent questions. In fact the question of the century!
When we are talking about a vaccine, two things come to my mind - Safety and effectivity. Both the things are not very clear at this moment regarding COVID-19 vaccine. Due to the overwhelming pressure from various factors including political and social factors, has definitely rushing the process of this particular vaccine development. Are we cutting corners to have a rushed product which can have dangerous consequences? The prime example is the initial disastrous consequences of Salk's live attenuated Polio vaccine in 1955! 40,000 children developed polio because of the vaccine itself!
Hope fully this time we are right and the vaccine will be safe and effective. This is for the sake of human kind and we owe it to our children and next generation! Pray hard and get the vaccine.
Next question will be affordability and distributions.
from what i have been reading, research-wise and other commentary, i believe RNA vaccines are our our less risky option at the moment... keeping in view, science behind it. With this novel virus, attenuated or other forms of vaccines pose more threat in comparison. data has suggested sufficient antibody and T cell response, praying and hoping that this proves to be the safest and healthiest option. its success will open up pathways to so many other vaccines that are still under development
Creo q si son confiables y la esperanza del mundo para vencer la Covid 19.
Yes, vaccines and maintaining covid-19 protocol properly are the main treatment to covid-19 infection.
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