[ad_1]
March 09 2021, 10:00 am
With three COVID-19 vaccines available in the United States – Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson – choosing one can seem difficult, if given the choice. But infectious disease specialist Sankar Swaminathan, MD, says the decision is easy: “The best COVID-19 vaccine is the first one that becomes available to you.”
This is because all three are very effective in preventing serious illnesses caused by COVID-19, including hospitalization and death. And the longer you are not vaccinated, the more likely you are to be infected and possibly seriously ill from COVID-19.
While all COVID-19 vaccines licensed in the United States offer substantial protection, differences between them have been reported. In large clinical trials, the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines were each about 95% effective in preventing any type of COVID-19 disease, causing symptoms ranging from sniffling to death. In clinical trials in the United States, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine was reported to be 85% effective in preventing serious disease and 72% effective in preventing moderate and severe disease. The vaccine was 66% effective overall in clinical trials in the United States, South Africa and Brazil.
Although figures vary, the effectiveness of each vaccine cannot be compared face to face. This is because of the differences in how and when each clinical trial was performed. One change that could have had a big impact was the emergence of certain virus variants – versions of the coronavirus with specific mutations that change its genetic code.
The Johnson & Johnson clinical trials took place months after the others. At that time, virus variants were circulating in different parts of the globe. Some variants partially escape COVID-19 vaccines, which may explain the lower efficacy rates that have been reported. It is possible that, if all three COVID-19 vaccines were tested in the same way and at the same time, their rates of effectiveness would be similar. However, at this point, we don’t know.
The good news is that data from the initial studies indicates that all three vaccines still work well against today’s most common variants. In the future, it is possible that new variants will emerge that reduce the effectiveness of a vaccine. New technologies that have made vaccine creation easier and faster could help overcome this potential problem. Similar to an annual flu shot, we might need COVID-19 booster shots to protect us against newer variants of the virus.
“Getting any vaccine as soon as possible and getting a lot of people immunized quickly will be the best way to protect everyone,” says Swaminathan. “This will help boost the herd’s immunity, slow down virus variants and return to normal life.”
For more information:
Source link
