What are the 6 Questions WHO Answers about COVID-19 Vaccine?

 

WHO answers six questions about the COVID-19 vaccine

The last week of April every year is "World Immunization Week". Today is the beginning of World Immunization Week 2020. The 2019-nCoV disease has attracted worldwide attention to its vaccine research and also reminded us of the importance of immunity. Thanks to immunization, millions of lives worldwide are protected every year.

 

Development of a Vaccine for COVID-19 is not a Short Time Work

The World Health Organization is working with partners around the world to accelerate the development and development of safe and effective vaccines, and is working to ensure that billions of people have fair access to the vaccines they need. 

But even if the speed of research and development has been accelerated, the development of a vaccine for COVID-19 is not a day's work.

Also Refer: Vaccine Development Encyclopedia 

Affect on Immunization Work of Many Countries

It is worth noting that due to the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic, the immunization work of many countries has been affected. 

During emergencies, even if the time of vaccination is temporarily delayed, it will increase the risk of infection with diseases such as measles and polio. 

The emergence of more infections will make the medical and health system that is already overloaded by the COVID-19 epidemic more difficult.

 

WHO, as always, supports countries to advance necessary vaccination work. In response to the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic, WHO has issued guidelines for immunization services, providing principled guidelines and reminders of precautions for countries to make policy decisions on immunization services during the epidemic.

 

6 Questions WHO Answers about COVID-19 Vaccine

Q 1.  The world is eagerly looking forward to the birth of the COVID-19 vaccine. How does the vaccine prevent disease? What is the principle behind it?

Answer: Vaccination is a simple, safe and effective way to prevent diseases. It can protect people from harmful diseases before they are exposed to them. Vaccines use the body's natural defense mechanisms to build resistance to specific infections and strengthen our immune system. After being vaccinated, our immune system will respond by:

 

· Identify invading viruses or bacteria

 

· Production of antibodies, which are proteins naturally produced by the immune system to fight diseases

 

· Generate memories of related diseases and ways of fighting. If we are exposed to the same germs in the future, our immune system will quickly destroy it before getting sick.

 

Q 2. According to reports, there are currently dozens of candidate vaccines for COVID-19 in development. How long does it generally take to develop a vaccine? What is the general process of vaccine development?

Answer: The vaccine development process usually takes years or even decades. Once a promising candidate vaccine is determined in research, it will first undergo rigorous laboratory testing and preclinical research before applying for clinical trials:

 

Phase I clinical trial: vaccination is carried out in a small area (about 20 to 50 people). At this stage, the safety of the vaccine, side effects, appropriate dosage, injection method and vaccine components will be evaluated.

 

Phase II clinical trial: If the first phase is successful, it will enter the second phase. At this stage, several hundred people are usually vaccinated. 

The composition ratio (such as age, gender) of the participants in the trial will be consistent with the population for which the vaccine is applicable.

 

In the phase III clinical trial phase, the vaccine is usually given to thousands of people for testing to verify that the vaccine is still safe and effective in a wider population.

 

The results of all these trials will be strictly evaluated by regulatory agencies to decide whether to approve the vaccine for marketing. 

Once the vaccine is approved for use, it must be continuously monitored to ensure the safety of the vaccinated population.

 

Q 3. How do we ensure the safety of vaccines? Are there people who may have adverse reactions to the vaccine?

Answer: The vaccine approved by competent national authorities is very safe. As with all medicines, side effects may occur after vaccination. 

However, these side effects are usually very mild and short-lived, such as arm soreness or mild fever. More serious side effects may occur, but they are extremely rare. 

The likelihood of a person being seriously injured by a disease is far greater than the likelihood of being seriously injured by a vaccine.

 

WHO works closely with relevant authorities in various countries to formulate and provide global standards at any time to assess the quality, safety and immunogenicity of biological products including vaccines.

 

Q 4. Is there a successful precedent in human history to use vaccines to contain a pandemic?

Answer: Every year, vaccines have successfully saved millions of lives. People generally regard vaccines as the most successful and cost-effective public health intervention.

 

Last December, the world ushered in the 40th anniversary of the eradication of smallpox. In the 20th century alone, smallpox caused 300 million deaths. The elimination of smallpox has benefited from active vaccination campaigns around the world and a series of other public health measures. 

Now, the work of eradicating polio is also moving in this direction. Effective vaccines and ongoing vaccination work have reduced the global wild polio cases by 99%, prevented 18 million people from paralysis, and saved 1.5 million children's lives.

 

China's childhood immunization program is also very effective. The child immunization program has enabled China to declare no cases of wild polio, eliminate maternal and neonatal tetanus caused by childbirth in 2012, and reduce the hepatitis B infection rate of children under 5 years of age to 0.32%.

In 2014, this has continued to significantly reduce since 2018 Vaccine-prevention diseases (VPD, vaccine-prevention diseases) have reduced the incidence to a record low (for example, measles and rubella are 2.8 cases per million people. 

Also, Japanese encephalitis is 1.3 cases per 100,000 people). In 2018, the vaccine coverage of the National Infant Immunization Program reached 95%.

 

Q 5. What measures does WHO have to speed up the development of a vaccine for COVID-19?

Answer: Researchers all over the world are striving to develop vaccines and targeted therapies for COVID-19 as soon as possible. 

In order to work hard in many ways to accelerate vaccine development, WHO has initiated multiple working groups. More than 130 scientists, funders and manufacturers around the world have called for the COVID-19 vaccine to be launched as soon as possible. 

There are more than 70 vaccine candidates in research worldwide, and several therapies have been put into clinical trials. WHO is committed to ensuring that vaccines and medicines are successfully developed to benefit all countries, regions and all people fairly.

 

Q 6. While waiting for the vaccine to be developed, what other measures can we take to protect ourselves from the COVID-19 infection?

Answer: While responding to the COVID-19 disease, countries must take immediate action to ensure that routine immunization is carried out in an orderly manner to protect lives and avoid outbreaks of other diseases. 

The latest edition of the WHO's guidelines on immunization and COVID-19 pointed out that if there is no outbreak of vaccine-preventable disease in the local area, the local government can suspend preventive vaccine booster immunization. At the same time, the guidelines also urge countries to resume routine immunization of children, the basic health service, and vaccinations for high-risk groups such as influenza. 

If routine vaccination is forced to be postponed, replanting work should be arranged as soon as possible, and replanting should be given priority to the population with the highest risk.

 

In the prevention and treatment of COVID-19, we have not yet had a vaccine or targeted therapy. Before effective targeted therapies (such as drugs and vaccines) are born, we should continue to follow personal protection recommendations. Specific to the individual level, we should all take measures to reduce the risk of transmission, such as washing hands correctly, covering the nose and mouth with elbows when sneezing and coughing, not touching the face, not spitting, and keeping a certain distance from others.