Coronavirus: the creation of a vaccine “is not yet the end of the tunnel” according to this immunologist



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Various health ministers in Belgium agreed on Monday that coronavirus vaccines will be given on a voluntary basis and free of charge to the population when they become available. The various advances in the testing phases are good news for vaccine creation, but “it is certainly not the end of the tunnel yet”, admires Michel Goldman. This immunology professor at the Free University of Brussels is visiting Fabrice Grofilley at 7:50 am on Bel RTL this Tuesday.

Decrease the risk of serious illness

“There is still a lot of uncertainty to remove, of measures to be respected to put an end to this pandemic and it is only later that we can hope that the vaccine will do if not disappear the virus, at least make the virus disappear. disease”, He explains. “A vaccine will complement the other tools we have, it will not replace them”, The director general of the World Health Organization Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Monday. According to Michel Goldman, without knowing the time it will take to distribute the vaccines, “We know they will prevent the most severe forms of the disease. But they will break the chain of transmission, we hope, but it hasn’t been proven yet.” here, precisely: caution “.

Regarding the test results announcing vaccine effectiveness sometimes up to 95%, the immunology professor recalls: “First of all, it is data obtained from volunteers of different ages, but it is the volunteers that have been selected. What will happen in real life, with people suffering from other diseases, who is taking drugs? So what do the announced numbers mean? Michel Goldman explains it “The 95% rate means that when the virus circulates, you have a 20% lower risk of developing a serious disease. We don’t yet know if this will completely prevent and if it will prevent you from becoming a carrier.”

The biggest challenge will be getting people to agree to use these upcoming vaccines.

This specialist also calls for greater transparency on this vaccine, thus responding to the skepticism of a part of the population towards vaccines: “I think the biggest challenge today will be to get people to agree to use these upcoming vaccines. It’s far from obvious.” In fact, the theories that are spreading about an alleged dangerousness of the vaccine are not easy to counter, “because there is no scientific evidence for all these claims, these theories”, admits Michel Goldman.

“For us, as academics, as doctors, it is very difficult to go against these anti-vaccine movements”, continue before issuing possible solutions. “You have to respect everyone’s opinion. I think the important thing is to convince those who are hesitant. I think there are many people who ask themselves questions, sometimes very good questions. There is this population that we have to deal with”, concludes.

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