VACCINE UPDATE
The desire to have some effective and safe therapy for the COVID 19 virus has many pharmaceutical houses devoting enormous amounts of time and money to secure a vaccine in a very short period of time. There has been much criticism of the time frame for the current vaccine effort. At this writing, there are at least 3 vaccines in phase 3 clinical trials. Keep in mind that most vaccines take more than 10 years to develop.
Most vaccines take many years to develop because certain important questions must be answered about them. The first question is about safety since we would be vaccinating healthy individuals and we would not want to cause harm to otherwise healthy patients. The second question involves efficacy, which means does the vaccine work, does it prevent disease. Lastly, we need to know about the duration of the effect of the vaccine. Specifically, if an immune response does arise, and the vaccine and is effective, how long will it work and will a patient need ongoing vaccinations.
Frankly, none of these questions have yet been answered. There is justifiable concern from the medical community as well as the general population about any new vaccine, especially when developed in a short time period.
Current polls indicate that over half of the American population is skeptical about taking any new COVID vaccine, and this will only delay the answers to the questions above. Stay informed and discuss any vaccine with your doctor to make a good choice
