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Government ministers should stop politicizing the Covid-19 vaccine by bragging that they were the first to license it, the head of a major research group said.
Heidi Larson, director of the London-based Vaccine Confidence Project (VCP), said the government should instead focus on building support for the jab or it will lose the trust and confidence of the British people.
“I don’t think it’s in the government’s interest to run without building the land,” Larson said. “Unfortunately it seems the announcements are made more politically.
“The message -” We are the first in the world to get there “- may be a message for other countries, but it doesn’t matter if you don’t have your audience behind you.”
Larson, an anthropologist, said she did not think British public opinion was openly opposed to taking a Covid vaccine but, after announcing the license of one, ministers had to explain “what it will be like between now and April”.
“[We need] the longer-term plan rather than the headlines. Telling the whole story will be important. “
Now that the UK has cleared the first Covid vaccine, who will get it first?
The Government’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization (JCVI) says its priority is to prevent Covid-related deaths and protect personal and health and social systems.
Residents of aged care homes and their carers are first on the JCVI list because their risk of exposure to the virus is higher and because the risk of death is closely related to older age. They are followed as a priority by anyone over 80 and by health and social workers on the front line.
Even so, for pragmatic reasons, NHS personnel are likely to be the first group to receive the Pfizer / BioNTech hit. This is because the vaccine must be stored at extremely low temperatures, which can be achieved more easily using hospital facilities
Are there enough doses to reach all priority groups?
Together, nursing home residents, their carers, and those over 80 make up nearly 6 million people, and NHS frontline staff another 736,685. Matt Hancock, the health secretary, said he expects 10 million doses of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine to be available this year, so if this is the only licensed vaccine, everyone else should wait until further doses are available. available next year.
Where will I go for the vaccine?
Covid-19 vaccines are expected to be delivered to three types of locations: NHS trust “vaccine hubs” at hospital sites; mass vaccination centers, which are being set up in places like football stadiums, conference buildings and racecourses – are expected to vaccinate up to 5,000 people a day; and in doctors’ offices and pharmacies. GPs can also visit nursing home residents and homebound patients without them having to travel.
At what distance will the two doses be administered and will I be protected after the first?
While there is some evidence to point to high levels of short-term protection from a single dose of the vaccine, a two-dose schedule is what has been approved by the MHRA.
The second dose will need to be given at least 21 days after the first and both will be injected into the deltoid muscle, the thick triangular muscle we use to lift each arm.
For the Pfizer vaccine, its effectiveness rate was calculated seven days after the second shot. People are likely to have some protection before this, but that’s the time it takes to get full protection. We will learn more about the extent of protection and how long it lasts as data from ongoing clinical trials arrives.
Can I pay to get the vaccine privately?
Unlikely. UK Deputy Chief Medical Officer Jonathan Van-Tam said he believes Covid-19 vaccines should be given on a clinical priority basis rather than allowing people to skip the line if they can afford it.
Will I be able to choose which vaccine I have?
Even unlikely, at least in the short and medium term. Assuming more than one vaccine is approved, the priority will be to distribute the available doses to the people who need them as quickly as possible.
Linda Geddes
The VCP was developed in response to hesitation and misinformation about vaccination programs, such as those that caused the boycott of polio eradication efforts in northern Nigeria in 2003-2004.
Larson pointed out that while the UK had approval for emergency use of the vaccine, more regulation was needed before mass immunization was possible. Only a small number of people could have been vaccinated in January, he said, and the plan beyond that “needs to be carefully” thought out.
There was a need to enter communities, “listening to them, interacting with them and building that ground before vaccines were widely administered. If we don’t, it risks being a problem. “
The VCP’s investigative work on people’s feelings about a vaccine has been “a wake-up call to the public health community … we have work to do to build trust,” he said. But if the vaccine is administered in the right way, it could be a “great opportunity” to build confidence in inoculation more broadly.
Larson said the UK was just at the beginning of learning about Covid vaccines. “We should make it a public trip as much as possible and bring people together, rather than deciding what information is given from time to time.”
He noted that there were logistical difficulties in providing mass vaccinations. He said: “Pfizer in particular needs extremely cold refrigeration and its management cannot be overcome, but it will require extraordinary logistical support and the training of those who will manage it.”
Healthcare professionals also had to be involved, not only in terms of taking the vaccine, but also in answering questions from members of the public.
Larson said all vaccines have undergone a thorough examination and progress would be monitored “to make sure people are safe.”
“No company or government has any interest in distributing a vaccine that is not safe enough. This is bad for business, bad for the government, and bad for the public. The public must remember that even if they hate big business, they have no interest in publishing a vaccine that will ruin their reputation. And no government wants to put out anything to harm the voting public. I think there are some very wary people who just be wary by default. “
He said his message to the government was to come in and listen to communities and use “every moment we have before we’re ready to go with the vaccine widely.” And he warned against waiting and “getting lost in the statistics”.
In terms of mandatory vaccination, Larson said he can’t see the government take this approach, but proof of vaccination may be required to travel to some places. “Some countries, for example, now require you to get yellow fever vaccinations or don’t let you into the country, some countries might add Covid to that.”
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