Vaccination Updates

More than a year into the pandemic and scientists and health experts have made great progress with vaccines. As of March 2, there are three vaccines that are available to be administered to the public. Pfizer’s BioNTech vaccine, Moderna’s vaccine, and Johnson and Johnson’s Janssen vaccine. There are also two other vaccines that are in phase 3 trials: Astrazeneca’s vaccine and Novavax’s vaccine. In a previous post, we have already spoken about Pfizer’s and Moderna’s vaccines, but since they are older vaccines that had been developed earlier in the pandemic, they are not equipped to fight the different strains of COVID-19 so those two companies are looking into booster shots. Another downside of these vaccines is that they have an age requirement. That is why scientists and medical experts have started to run trials involving younger kids so that they can see if they can expand the age range of those who receive these vaccines.

Johnson and Johnson’s vaccine has been recently approved by the FDA for emergency use. This is a game-changer because unlike the other vaccines currently available, this vaccine requires only one dose. Within days of being authorized, Johnson and Johnson are looking to ship 4 million doses of the vaccine to clinics around the United States. This is a huge deal because that means 4 million people are guaranteed to be protected from the virus in just a few days. It is also easier to store this vaccine compared to the other ones because this only requires a refrigerator, which clinics have while the other vaccines need extreme temperatures. This vaccine is the key to more people being protected from the virus faster.

In a previous post, we spoke about how there have been many strains of the virus that have been discovered around the world. Since Pfizer’s and Moderna’s vaccines had been produced towards the start of the pandemic, they had not been tested well against the new variants that have emerged. As a result, they have started to test booster shots. The purpose of these booster shots is that if the original two doses of the vaccine have a weaker response to the new variants, the booster shots will be able to build up a stronger immune response to the variant. Pfizer has already started to test their booster shot on participants in a clinical trial, the same participants who had been a part of their trial for their original vaccine. Moderna has a different approach: make booster shot vaccines targeting one variant at a time. They will mix the booster shot of a certain variant with the original vaccine that they had produced. Both of these companies are making booster shots for the variant that has been found in South Africa. It is too early to say whether they have found promising evidence with their newly made booster shots.

One downside to all of the vaccines is their age requirement. If you are going to receive the two doses of the Moderna vaccine or the one dose of Johnson and Johnson’s vaccine, you must be 18 years old or older. If you are going to receive the two doses of Pfizer’s vaccine, you must be 16 years old or older. That is why each of the aforementioned companies is working on trials with children and teens as their participants (as well as pregnant women). The reason the FDA hasn’t approved these vaccines for kids yet is that as a child, your immune system is still maturing, and won’t have the same reaction to medicines as an adult’s immune system. Pfizer and Moderna have participants from ages 12-15, and they will record their results from their trials until late June, and from then on will decide if they want to test it on younger kids. Johnson and Johnson have only stated that they wish to look into vaccines for newborns and toddlers, they haven’t started a trial for that yet.

With all of this positive information regarding the vaccines, there is hope that by the end of this year, life may return to some type of normal like it was before the pandemic. We must not get ahead of ourselves though, because hospitals are still overwhelmed and doctors and nurses are still overworked. The least we can do for them is to socially distance themselves and wear a mask. We’re in this together, and the better we work together as a team, the faster we will be able to emerge from this pandemic.

Until next time, Keerthana T

Sources:

1. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/different-vaccines.html

2. https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/covid-19/info-by-product/moderna/index.html#:~:text=Persons%20age%2018%20years%20and,at%20least%2028%20days%20apart

3. https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/covid-19/info-by-product/janssen/index.html

4. https://www.health.com/condition/infectious-diseases/coronavirus/pfizer-is-coming-out-with-a-booster-shot-for-their-covid-vaccine-what-is-this-and-why-is-it-needed

5. https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2021/03/01/972538146/johnson-johnson-vaccine-rollout-begins-in-u-s-as-covid-19-cases-tick-up

6. https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/covid-19/info-by-product/pfizer/index.html

7. https://www.news4jax.com/health/2021/03/01/covid-19-vaccine-trials-underway-for-children-pregnant-women/

8. https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/why-are-mrna-vaccines-so-exciting-2020121021599