WHAT a difference a week makes. In about that time, we have gone from having little more than hope that a coronavirus vaccine would work, to having promising results from not one but three trials.
As last week’s issue went to press, we had just heard the news that a vaccine candidate in late-stage human trials seems to be safe and effective – at least according to interim findings. That was the vaccine from US firm Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech. Then came the results – albeit in a smaller sample – from Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine. And on Monday, US firm Moderna chimed in with interim findings for its vaccine (see Moderna coronavirus vaccine trial produces best results yet), the most promising of all, which encouragingly seems to have an effect even for older people.
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These results are a tremendous scientific achievement. This is especially true given that the two vaccines with the most promising outcomes so far – those made by Pfizer and Moderna – use messenger RNA technology, which has never been approved for a vaccine before. This technology has incredible potential not only for helping us now with the covid-19 pandemic, but also in the future for tackling many other diseases, from flu to cancer, as Michael Le Page reports (see What are mRNA vaccines and how useful will they be?).
The fact that all three vaccines seem to work is particularly heartening given the gargantuan task of manufacturing, distributing and administering doses to the entire planet – preparations for which have been going on for months, as Carrie Arnold sets out (see What will it take to get a covid-19 vaccine to the world?) It suggests that we will have a choice of vaccines at our disposal. This will help production at scale and will hopefully mean that any shortfalls in efficacy of one vaccine will be covered by another.
But despite the unarguably good news, it is important to sound a strong note of caution. Yes, we now appear to be firmly on the road towards the end of this pandemic, yet the road remains a long one, as Graham Lawton writes (see We can’t be certain the coronavirus vaccines will stop the pandemic). We should be prepared for the fact that vaccines that are highly promising in trials may prove less effective when used in the real world.
We must also remember that a vaccine is useless unless people take it. As Heidi Larson argues on How to stop covid-19 vaccine hesitancy, scientists and policy-makers mustn’t dismiss safety concerns. They need to carefully listen to people’s worries and then unambiguously set out the reasons they believe a vaccine is safe and in the best interests of the person taking it. Communication strategies will need to be clear and well planned if we want mass uptake of vaccines, and an end to this period of turmoil.
