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Slowly for a year, the world has been living within bounds due to the spread of a new type of coronavirus. Depending on where the epidemic spreads the most, wearing masks, frequent hand washing and keeping your distance, curfew restrictions and store closures have become the only effective remedies. However, with the development of vaccines against the coronavirus, we are already seeing the light at the end of the tunnel: a few days after Christmas, health workers in Hungary began to be vaccinated with the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine, from which the company receives 4.4 million doses. Additionally, vaccines for Moderna and AstraZeneca are expected to be available in 2021, and many other developments are underway.
qThe government has contracted 17.5 million vaccines from various manufacturers that, in addition to Pfizer, will likely receive 6.5 million doses of AstraZeneca’s Oxford vaccine and 4 million 360,000 doses of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine.
However, along with vaccines, a number of misconceptions and misunderstandings have come to light, and we’re not just thinking about fake news and completely obvious conspiracy theories here. The virologist Gábor Kemenesi, a researcher at the János Szentágothai Research Center of the University of Pécs, has already dispelled some of these in his video published on Tuesday, denying that the vaccine would make it less safe, cause infertility or cause serious allergic reactions.
However, an important question remains: if the vaccine is finally here, when will we be able to return to our previous, habitual and unfettered lives?
The most reassuring answer to the question for many would be now, but this is unfortunately not the case. Before the holidays, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán estimated that we would not overcome the crisis before the end of 2021.
“There will be lighter stages after the first dose of vaccine and then after the massive arrival of the vaccine, but by the time everything is back to normal, it will take at least a full year,” the prime minister said.
Caution is not just a characteristic of the Hungarian Prime Minister, more and more researchers around the world are warning that starting vaccines does not mean that we can relax and throw the mask around the corner at any moment. Of course, there are several reasons for this, one of which is simple logistics: it takes a long time to produce enough vaccines to reach any country in the world, and it takes time to vaccinate the population en masse and achieve complete protection. .
It should also be noted here that, according to data from the Central Statistical Office, only 15 percent of Hungarians would be sure of injecting the vaccine. Because the government has long said that vaccination is voluntary, it is likely difficult to achieve community immunity that scientists say is necessary to stop the spread of the epidemic. So far, current research has not been able to say with certainty what percentage of the total population needs to be vaccinated for this. Estimates so far put the rate at around 60 percent, but the same is 95 percent for measles, which is why the U.S. Bureau of Epidemiology says more research is needed even on this topic.
In any case, as of Tuesday 598,000 people have registered for vaccination. If this is really the only number being asked to get vaccinated, the rate is probably not enough, even if we add up those who have had the infection before and have developed some protection.
Do we infect and protect?
In addition to the 9,750 vaccines from Pfizer and BioNTech, almost 70,000 more doses will be delivered this week, and from here they will be continuously delivered to Hungary by order of the National Center for Public Health, Péter Vereckei, managing director of Pfizer in Hungary, told hvg. hu. It will definitely be enough for healthcare professionals and those working on the defense line, but next year there will also be the rest of the 4.4 million doses that Hungary has signed up for through the European Commission.
Just Tuesday afternoon, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced that she would validate her option order for an additional 100 million lots, so there could be more to come from them.
According to Péter Vereckei, they currently have four production sites, in addition to one for BioNTech, three of which are in the United States and two in Europe (Belgium and Germany). BioNTech plans to create another manufacturing site, so they are confident that they will be able to maintain the global commitment (50 million batches in 2020 and 1.3 billion batches in 2021).
The managing director could not say exactly when Hungary would receive enough to vaccinate 2.2 million people, as the vaccine would have to be administered twice, but said he was confident that “sometime in the second quarter of next year, in March , they can switch to mass vaccination in April ”. This would definitely be enough to immunize people over 65 and vulnerable populations.
Participants in the vaccine study, called Comirnaty, will be followed for another 2 years, during which time data will be collected on long-term safety, vaccination of people under 16 years of age, pregnant women or even immunosuppressed patients.
Regarding the production of the vaccine, the expert emphasized that vaccination based on mRNA is not a new technology, the Hungarian Katalin Karikó and her research group have been studying its application for three decades. The messenger RNA delivered to the body is destroyed when it is made, our body breaks it down in 72 hours, so there is nothing left in us.
He added that there is no need to worry about storage either: the vaccine is transported at -75 degrees using dry ice to the vaccination points, where it can be stored for another six months at this temperature. It can then be stored in an average 2-8 degree refrigerator for five days, so safe dosing can be achieved with organization and an ongoing vaccination plan.
Research in the next period will also show how long the vaccine will provide protection, but Pfizer is optimistic.
It can already be seen that the Pfizer and BioNTech coronavirus vaccine showed levels of 3 to 3.5 times the level of antibodies in the body compared to natural infections, and even in the oldest age group over 55, 1.8-2- double this proportion. However, the Executive Director emphasized that no conclusions can be drawn from this at the moment, more research is needed here.
According to research, Comirnaty provides 95 percent protection, which develops on day 7 after the second vaccination (21 days must pass between the first and second vaccination) During this time, it is important that those vaccinated follow all the rules . .
There has also been a debate in scientific circles about whether those vaccinated can become asymptomatic and can transmit the virus. According to Péter Vereckei, more research is needed to find out. Ferenc Falus, a former national medical director, spoke on the ATV about the fact that vaccinated people may also become infected and continue to infect, but their symptoms will not develop. In response to the accusation, Tibor Fabó, Pfizer’s chief medical officer, said that Falus’s words may be valid for the 28-day period after full administration of the vaccine until full protection is achieved.
András Falus, a Széchenyi Prize-winning immunologist and a full member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, had a similar opinion on the hvg.hu question.
Gábor Kemenesi said about this in his aforementioned video: During clinical trials, it has been examined whether the vaccine protects against illness and hospitalizations. The answer to this is a resounding yes. However, the tests have not yet analyzed whether the vaccinated can become asymptomatic and can transmit the virus, he recalled. This will be counted in Phase 4 and epidemiological observation.
However, according to Kemenesi, even if the vaccinated could infect asymptomatically, the vaccine recipients would not be sick and would not be hospitalized, which is a huge thing and will pull the poison out of the epidemic properly.
But when will it end?
The question, whether the vaccine also protects against disease or the transmission of the virus, is also particularly important because it can play an important role in how quickly we can get rid of the epidemic. However, more research – that is, a little patience – is still needed to establish this, as well as other outstanding issues.
It is also no coincidence that while the Pfizer vaccine (as well as other preauthorized vaccines based on experiments to date) is extremely effective, none are 100 percent effective, as are any of the world’s vaccines. So in small amounts, but there will be some who can get the coronavirus despite being vaccinated.
However, János Szlávik, chief physician at the National Institute of Hematology and Infectious Diseases at South Pest Central Hospital, is confident that if the necessary amount arrives and 60-70 percent of the population can vaccinate, immunity will develop next year. of the flock. However, he also noted that the virus is unlikely to disappear immediately, but that far fewer people will be hospitalized in the intensive care unit. Like the flu, someone can get the coronavirus despite being vaccinated, but they will not have severe symptoms. And their proportion will be so low that it cannot be considered a significant epidemiological factor, even if a vaccinated person can transmit the virus, he added.
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