Control of an infectious disease through build-up of natural immunity has never been achieved before, and there’s no reason to believe COVID-19 is any different.
Our best shot at ending the pandemic is by achieving herd immunity through widespread use of a vaccine. But that won’t happen unless people believe it’s safe.
Current rates of vaccine hesitancy could jeopardize efforts to achieve herd immunity in the US, says Matt Motta, a political scientist who studies vaccine uptake and effective health communication.
Once a coronavirus vaccine is approved, billions of doses need to be manufactured. Current vaccine production is nowhere near ready, for a variety of reasons, but planning now could help.
It usually takes 10 years for a new vaccine to complete clinical trials, but we’ve been promised a COVID-19 vaccine in 12 to 18 months. Even if such fast-tracked development is possible, is it wise?
Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne
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