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The news that a Covid-19 vaccine is effective is encouraging. But we still know little about him. Ten questions that need to be clarified now.
It is not yet clear which vaccines will win the race.
It was good news that Biontech and Pfizer announced on Monday: The first interim results of an efficacy study with more than 43,000 test subjects show very good results. According to the results, nine out of ten vaccinated people can protect themselves from infection. That is hopeful. However, whether the vaccine will actually be tested still depends on many unknowns. Therefore, the race for the best vaccine is far from over. Here we have rounded up ten important questions that will also be important when comparing different candidates.
So far, little data has been presented in the form of a press release. According to the report, 94 people out of nearly 40,000 vaccinated became infected with Sars-CoV-2 in the week after receiving the second dose of vaccine (active ingredient or placebo). Most of those infected had been treated with placebo. This skewed distribution of Covid-19 cases that have occurred indicates that the BNT162b2 vaccine protects nine out of ten vaccinated people from infection. An independent commission also found no serious safety concerns regarding side effects. The study will continue until 164 infections have occurred, at which point the data will be published in a specialized journal.
Data on age distribution have not yet been published. But the information would be essential, because one of the goals is to first vaccinate people at risk, that is, the elderly and those with previous illnesses or a weakened immune system. Often it is precisely these people who develop poor vaccine protection. In the Pfizer and Biontech efficacy study, two age groups were selected, one group between 18 and 55 years old and another between 56 and 85 years old. But because there were only 94 confirmed infections, an assessment of the results based on age is not yet possible.
That is not clear yet either. It is also very difficult to check whether vaccinated people can infect others after a possible infection. It would be helpful if the vaccine could prevent serious diseases. However, it would be even better if you nipped an infection in the bud so that those affected could no longer spread the virus (sterilizing effect). Only then can the vaccine, like the measles vaccine, contribute to the protection of the herd and also indirectly protect those at risk. However, a sterilizing effect is much more difficult to achieve than a protective effect that only alleviates the course of the disease but does not interrupt the chains of infection.
There is also no evidence for this yet. In the efficacy study, the researchers measured the protection of the vaccine seven days after the second vaccination dose, that is, shortly after. It is quite possible that the effects will wear off over time. For months there has been a discussion about how long immunity lasts after a Covid 19 disease. There have been a few cases of secondary infections, but they seem extremely rare. However, studies that indicate that antibodies decline relatively quickly after infection are of concern. What this means is still unclear, especially since another study found no decrease.
According to Biontech, the determined protection was achieved after two vaccinations three weeks apart. It is currently not known whether the vaccine will have to be vaccinated again after two injections. Most common vaccines against other diseases need to be updated at regular intervals of several years. Only those vaccines are approved by testing authorities that do not cause any medical problems. But the issue of snacks will become more acute next year at the earliest, when it becomes clear that vaccination protection has already diminished for those who were vaccinated first.
As for all other vaccines, the following also applies here: You can only make a statement about rare side effects or damages that occur late if a large number of people have been vaccinated and observed for a long period of time. In general, there has been little experience with mRNA vaccines. There is no approved mRNA vaccine yet, but they are considered safe. Contrary to what is sometimes claimed, viral RNA administered in this way cannot integrate into the human genome. It is also rapidly broken down by the body’s own enzymes.
This is hard to say. Some mutations have already occurred and several strains of the virus are circulating around the world. However, there is still no known variant that reduces the success of vaccination. Also, our immune system always forms various antibodies when vaccinated with an effective vaccine. These are directed against different areas of the viral proteins. Therefore, a vaccine also works against a slightly modified virus. It is also encouraging that Sars-CoV-2 is genetically much more stable than, for example, influenza viruses and that it is currently changing rather slowly.
In general, little. Because the vaccines currently being tested contain different components of Sars-CoV-2. It is to be expected, however, that those with viral mRNAs such as the vaccine candidate from the American company Moderna or the one from the German company Curevac will also have some protective effect. The University of Oxford / Astra Zeneca vaccine, on the other hand, consists of Sars-CoV-2 DNA, packaged in a gene shuttle. Other vaccines currently being tested in clinical trials contain inactivated viruses or surface protein components of Sars-CoV-2. Each vaccine must demonstrate that its ingredients can trigger an immune response.
Maybe a country in Europe. The EU Commission signed a contract for delivery from September on Tuesday. If the vaccine is approved, companies want to deliver up to 300 million doses, the EU Commission would take over the distribution. Each country must receive doses of vaccine proportionally according to its population. The products are manufactured in Germany and Belgium. However, the Biontech vaccine could be approved first in the US and then delivered there first. Because the United States had already ordered 100 million doses in a first tranche in July, while Britain had also contractually secured 30 million doses of vaccines in July. It is currently unclear if and when Switzerland will receive vaccine doses from Biontech. So far, the federal government has entered into supply contracts with Moderna (4.5 million cans) and AstraZeneca (5.3 million cans).
Currently, many countries are developing strategies for this. Scientists and ethicists advise vaccinating older people and people with previous illnesses first, in case the vaccine is approved for them. Then it would be the turn of doctors and nurses, especially in hospitals and homes. The third group should therefore be people with socially important functions, that is, teachers, educators, employees of the health authorities, the police or the fire department.
