How Effective Are The Currently Available COVID-19 Vaccine Against COVID? Which One Should You Consider?
Scientists worldwide are working more than ever to innovate and manufacture vaccines that can stop COVID-19 from spreading. Several vaccines have begun to be phased out since the emergence of this novel coronavirus in December 2019. Here’s a brief overview by Dr. Rahul Dev Jayant of currently used vaccines, their efficacy, and how to choose the correct one.
Current Status of COVID-19 Vaccine Development
A COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe. Vaccines are an essential new weapon in the war against COVID-19, and the fact that so many vaccines are proving to be safe and are being produced is highly encouraging. Scientists from all over the world are working and inventing new vaccines that can save lives and put an end to this pandemic. Vaccines save millions of lives each year by preparing the body’s natural immune system to detect and fight. If the body is later exposed to those disease-causing viruses/bacteria after vaccination, the body can kill them right away and avoids illness. As a result, several major pharma and biotech firms were racing to produce and deploy safe and reliable vaccinations as the safest therapeutic choice. Dr. Rahul Dev Jayant’s lab for research is one of them. At least seven separate vaccines across three platforms have been phased out in nations as of February 2021 (Figure 1). Currently, 84 COVID-19 vaccine candidates are in clinical trials, with another 184 in the early development stages.1,2 The existing challenges of approved vaccines are their cost, processing time (availability), and storage temperatures (stability), which could add potential roadblocks to their transportation to developing countries.
Efficacy of Currently Available COVID-19 Vaccines?
There is no universal vaccine safety norm that can be extended to all vaccines. When deciding whether to use a vaccine or medication, the benefits must still be weighed against the risks. In some vaccines (e.g., malaria vaccine), the relatively low efficacy was acceptable due to the severity of the disease.3 Similarly, the COVID-19 pandemic also possesses an analogous threat; therefore, a 50% efficacy threshold was set for COVID-19 vaccines. Here is the support to the brief of Dr. Rahul Dev Jayant — Luckily, the so-far data from the COVID-19 vaccine trials suggests that all the vaccines are safe and efficacious, at least against one of the main COVID-19 variants. To add more in the summary by Dr. Rahul Dev Jayant, The data (up to Feb 2021) indicate that the approved vaccines have maximum efficacy up to 90–95% (after two doses) and able to prevent moderate to severe illness. Figure 1 shows the top 7 approved vaccines’ comparative efficacy analysis. So far, Pfizer-BioNTech is winning the race in terms of efficacy. But considering the smaller population has received the vaccine doses so far, it is too early to compare these vaccine efficacy and safety profile. Dr. Rahul Dev Jayant’s lab being a witness knows that newer vaccines in progress (Preclinical or clinical levels) must also be evaluated before any conclusions can be made about who is the safest or most efficacious against a wide variety of strains worldwide.
Is It Too Early to Compare COVID-19 Vaccine Efficacy?
As efficacy rates (results) indicated in Figure 1 shows that Pfizer-BioNTech gives us maximum protection, but it does mean that other vaccines are not effective or provide less protection. Even though many vaccines don’t have a high efficacy rate (~90%), but they are equally effective against most deadly virus strains. Some of them are effective against predominant strain and have shown promising efficacy in tackling the efficacy against multiple strains. Dr. Rahul Dev Jayant added, further, it is crucial that vaccines should have high efficacy, but it should not be the only criteria to define for vaccine selection based on initial clinical trial data. Other critical factors (e.g., location of the trial, population under trial, the timing of trial done during pandemic, against which strain infected population trial was conducted, etc.) need to be considered while analyzing the efficacy data. So, judging the vaccine quality just looking at efficacy rates in the trial population should not be considered only while choosing the suitable vaccine as it may or may not reflect the absolute efficacy in the real world. To add more support to the brief of Dr. Rahul Dev Jayant, here is a real-life example — in the case of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine, even though the efficacy is low (72% effective) but it is more effective at preventing severe illness (86%) and 100% effective at preventing death with only one shot. Another proof by Dr. Rahul Dev Jayant — the video below illustrates how people are biased based on the efficacy rate and deciding what vaccines are best for them or others. This video also highlights what is expected from each developed COVID-19 vaccine and how each one is equally effective (100%) in preventing death or hospitalization (prime importance endpoint for the COVID-19 treatment).
Therefore, Dr. Rahul Dev Jayant advises that it makes no difference which vaccine you receive, and as we may not have that privilege under current pandemic scenarios. What matters most is that you get vaccinated first. As a greater number of individuals get vaccinated, the lower the risk of COVID-19 spread.
(Note: The view presented here is solely reflected by Dr. Rahul Dev Jayant. The image is strictly for representation only).
References:
- https://www.gavi.org/vaccineswork/covid-19-vaccine-race (Accessed on 05–04–2021)
- https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/covid-19-vaccines (Accessed on 05–04–2021)
- https://www.afro.who.int/news/what-covid-19-vaccine-efficacy (Accessed on 05–04–2021)
