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A nurse prepares Russia’s “Sputnik-V” vaccine against coronavirus disease (COVID-19) for inoculation at a clinic in Tver, Russia, on October 12, 2020. [Photo/Agencies]
As a doctor with 1.27 million followers on social media, my followers often ask me questions. In recent weeks, “Is the COVID-19 vaccine safe?” has been the most frequently asked question.
Followed by, “Will the vaccine provide effective protection against the new coronavirus?”
Maybe it’s time to share some basic facts about vaccines. First, a vaccine is classified as a type of medicine and, like all similar products, safety is the highest priority in its development and production.
When a pharmaceutical company begins researching a new vaccine, it must first run tests on animals; then, if the results warrant proceeding, clinical testing is done on human volunteers in Phase I trials, on more human volunteers in Phase II, and then testing is done again in Phase III.
In all these phases, safety is paramount and any vaccine candidate that does not meet the safety requirement in any phase will fail. Especially in Phase I clinical trials, there are studies done from all angles on safety and any vaccine candidate that does not perform well will not proceed to the next phase.
According to official press releases, the five COVID-19 vaccines developed by Chinese companies have performed well in their Phase III clinical trials, while those developed by US and German companies have performed equally well in their tests. The safety of all these vaccines can be guaranteed.
Some vaccine opponents list examples of children who have suffered illnesses, even disabilities, after receiving vaccines. These examples are true, but, intentionally or not, they misrepresent the concept of security.
Vaccines are generally foreign to the human body, and like all drugs, there are some people who are allergic to them. This is what we call a “devil’s vote” and it has nothing to do with vaccine safety. The allergy rate for most vaccines is less than one in a million, which is not higher than that of all medications on average. Making these allergy sufferers a problem is fooling people.
Vaccines remain the most effective weapon against contagious diseases, especially those caused by viruses. For bacterial diseases, we have antibiotics. But for most viruses, there is no highly effective drug and we must rely primarily on the human immune system to fight them. Vaccines are what we use to boost the human immune system.
－TAN QINDONG, A DOCTOR BASED IN BEIJING
