write a essay on how do covid 19 vaccine work
Answers
Explanation:
Since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic back in March 2020, the virus has claimed more than 2.5 million lives globally with upwards of 113 million cases being confirmed by laboratory tests (March 2021).
The pandemic has impacted almost every corner of life, causing global economies to stall, changing the way we work and interact with our loved ones, and stretching healthcare systems to the limit. Governments around the world have been forced to implement harsh restrictions on human activity to curb the spread of the virus.
COVID-19 vaccination is now offering a way to transition out of this phase of the pandemic. Without them, many scientists believe that natural herd immunity would not have been sufficient to restore society to its normal status quo and that it would have resulted in extreme fatality. This is something that has been echoed by many health organizations including the WHO. In a scenario without access to vaccines, strict behavioral measures may have had to remain for the foreseeable future.
Fortunately, the beginning of 2021 saw numerous vaccines given emergency approval and begin their roll out in countries across the world. As of March 2021, just shy of 300 million vaccine doses had been administered worldwide. The figures give hope of a return to ‘normal’. However, global COVID-19 vaccination faces several challenges which may impact its success.
vaccine
Image Credit: rangizzz / Shutterstock.com
Efficacy of COVID-19 vaccination
Currently, a total of seven COVID-19 vaccines available across three platforms have been approved and are being rolled out across the globe. However, some question the efficacy of these vaccines, especially given the emergence of new strains of the virus. Vaccines must be effective at significantly reducing the spread of the virus for them to be successful.
Research has demonstrated that the Moderna and the mRNA-based Pfizer vaccines are 94-95% effective, and these figures have proven true even in trials studying those at high risk and the elderly.
It is a common misconception that this means 95% who get the vaccine are protected from the disease, leaving 5% unprotected. If this were true, in a population of 100,000 were vaccinated this would lead to 5,000 people contracting the virus and developing the disease over three months. This rate is similar to the current UK COVID-19 case rate.
The 95% effectiveness actually means that people with the vaccine have a 95% lower risk of COVID-19 when compared to a control group. Without the vaccine, we would expect roughly 1% of the population to get the disease, and with the vaccine, this reduces to 0.05%. At such low rates, the vaccines will allow society to get back to ‘normal’ and for restrictions to be permanently eased.
Evolution of SARS-CoV-2 virus
While the current vaccines have proven to be highly effective against the novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) strain that has caused the pandemic, recent data has highlighted the emergence of several mutational strains. There has been uncertainty as to whether the current vaccines will protect against these variants.