There are two new COVID-19 vaccines that appear to be more than 90% effective. But what are these vaccines, and how are they different from those used previously?
As viruses are transmitted from person to person they are constantly mutating and replicating. Could the SARS-CoV-2 virus evolve to evade the new vaccines that have just been developed?
Distributing a vaccine is a bit like boarding a plane — we can’t all board at the same time. So who gets priority? There are a few reasons we should consider vaccinating older people first.
The federal government has concluded a $1 billion agreement for a new high-tech manufacturing facility in Melbourne which would produce pandemic influenza vaccines as well as antivenoms.
People wearing masks walk in front of Pfizer’s headquarters in New York City. Pfizer and BioNtech are on track with a vaccine that is 90 per cent effective, say preliminary results, but they are not the only ones in the race.
AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews
Aïssatou Aïcha Sow, Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS)
Canada has set aside a total of 414 million doses of different types of vaccine. Some exploit known mechanisms, others are based on previously untested approaches.
Biden and Harris meet with their COVID-19 advisers virtually on Nov. 9.
AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster
Biden will begin his presidency in the midst of a global public health crisis that’s already killed over 240,000 people in the US alone. His team is already planning how to get COVID-19 under control.
Liz Minchin, La Conversation Canada et Molly Glassey, La Conversation Canada
Watch two of Australia and New Zealand’s top vaccine and virus experts answering questions about COVID-19. This was filmed at a Conversation reader event with Avid Reader bookshop.
Interim analysis of trial data isn’t unusual – but leaves us with many things we still need to find out.
Pfizer stock surged higher on Nov. 9 after the company announced its vaccine is “90% effective” against COVID-19 infections.
KENA BETANCUR/AFP via Getty Images
With COVID-19 cases soaring across the US and worldwide, the need for a vaccine could not be greater. Here’s where we stand on vaccine development, including positive results from Pfizer’s trial.
Early analysis suggests this vaccine has an efficacy of over 90%. So if you took ten people who were going to get sick from COVID-19 and vaccinated them, only one would get sick.
Two more COVID-19 vaccines may now be on the cards for Australia, should they pass clinical trials. But, as with earlier vaccine deals, there are no guarantees.
The government has secured deals for two further COVID-19 vaccines, taking its portfolio of agreements to four.
The increasingly well-coordinated global anti-vaccine movement has repurposed itself to challenge the very reality of COVID-19.
Hasan Esen/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
A safe, effective COVID-19 vaccine is expected to be developed in record time and may be approved for production, distribution and acceptance some time in 2021.
Under relaxed public health restrictions, deaths will spike far before herd immunity is achieved.
AP Photo/Mark Lennihan
Some have suggested the US allow healthy people to return to normal life, catch the coronavirus and get the population to herd immunity. The science says this plan is doomed to fail from the start.
Any COVID-19 vaccine is likely to be given first to higher risk groups before it is given to children. But we still need vaccines that are safe and effective for them too.
The Grand Hotel Taipei in Taiwan lights up rooms to mark five days with no new COVID-19 cases.
Ricky kuo/Shutterstock
With a vaccine, yes, elimination is possible. But we need to be realistic about how long this might take.
Researchers develop COVID-19 vaccines in Bio Farma, Indonesia’s pharmaceutical holding company Bio Farma in Bandung, West Java.
ANTARA FOTO/Dhemas Reviyanto/foc
Dean Faculty of Health Sciences and Professor of Vaccinology at University of the Witwatersrand; and Director of the SAMRC Vaccines and Infectious Diseases Analytics Research Unit, University of the Witwatersrand