Vaccines

Vaccine efforts must be refocused

Rush for COVID-19 treatment has lead to medical oversight Fletcher Haltom haltofle000@hsestudents.org |

Amid any disaster, a natural reaction of their largely experimental vaccines, is to seek a solution. For many, the and other companies have even higher perceived solution to the COVID-19 cost requirements. These prices raise pandemic is when a vaccine is created, questions about the economic aspects and patience is waning. Recently, for of creating and distributing a vaccine. example, President Donald Trump made an When a vaccine is developed, extensive ambitious statement to advisers, claiming distribution should be a necessity in the that a potential treatment will arrive as name of public health, not a luxury for soon as November. While this assurance of only some to afford. a vaccine sounds promising on the surface, Perhaps the most prevalent challenge there is an array of challenges and questions with the creation of a vaccine is that many that lie beneath the initial promise. efforts are focused on the wrong goal. The According to research collected by the development of a vaccine may not lead to New York Times, there are currently five the conclusion of the pandemic because versions of vaccines that are approved the vaccines in development are targeting for early or limited use. While this is the wrong problem. The overwhelming encouraging, it is important to weigh the majority currently in development, potential downsides of expediting the including leading approved vaccines creation process. Ted Ross, the director of such as Ad5 and Ad26, are focused on the Center for Vaccines and Immunology preventing COVID-19, the disease, not at the University of Georgia, recently said SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for the first vaccines “may not be the most COVID-19. effective.” Similarly, some experts worry Preeminent vaccines serve to also that the technique many developers are block the transmission of the pathogen using, delivering a protein called spike between people, not to simply prevent the to alert the body’s immune system, is disease the pathogen causes. While the unproven and therefore unsafe to rely on overall focus on preventing COVID-19 completely. can be attributed to mounting pressure Even the most promising vaccines to create a successful vaccine in record have potential pitfalls, especially related time, it makes the problem no less drastic. to production. RNA vaccines from Vaccines that prevent COVID-19 will not companies such as Moderna and Pfizer necessarily prevent the transmission of have shown favorable results in early SARS-CoV-2, which will only cause the tests, but virologists worry about large- pandemic to become lengthier. scale production. Many companies and In order to remedy this issue, vaccine laboratories simply are not built to produce creation efforts need to be refocused to the sheer magnitude of vaccines that will be eliminate the transmission of SARSnecessary around the world. CoV-2, not just COVID-19. Vaccines need Following the creation of a vaccine, to be efficiently, safely and effectively there are widespread concerns related created, and widespread distribution is to distribution, particularly the costs a must. Without restructured vaccine associated with reliability, effectiveness and research and production, the end of this safety. In a deal with the U.S. government, disaster may be much further away than Pfizer is requiring a cost of $19 per dose previously projected.