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.
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 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, The Conversation and Molly Glassey, The Conversation
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.
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.
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.
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.
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