Many vaccines against coronavirus disease 2019 (covid-19) are being developed, and some of them have already shown promising results with 70%-95% efficacy in their pivotal Phase III trials [1]. Some developed countries have been approved to use covid-19 vaccines developed by Pfizer/BioNTech [2].
The situation has become more dreadful in the second/third wave of COVID-19. Since herd immunity is far away, effective vaccines are highly desired to save life and unwanted deaths [3]. Vaccines' production and distribution process need plenty of time and may need some years to fulfill global needs. Moreover, vaccines might be a big-budget for under-developed countries. Although the fair distribution of vaccines is already a concern of world leaders, equitable access to the covid-19 vaccines throughout the world is a challenging issue [2]. However, to achieve an effective global vaccination program, global cooperation is required [2].
Secondly, who should get the vaccine in the first stage? Front-line workers like hospital staff need to be considered first. Then older people (60 years or above) should be prioritized as they are the most vulnerable group for COVID-19 and shared the highest percentages of deaths [4]. People with diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, respiratory problems, hypertension, and cancer showed that they suffer from severe COVID-19 [4]. Therefore, people with comorbid conditions (any age) should be listed for the third stage to get the vaccines, followed by the age group 50-59. In the fifth stage, people aged 40-49 years should be vaccinated, followed by 30-39 years.
The vaccine should not be mandatory for all, and consent matters. The vaccines have many unanswered questions and need some years to get answers, such as the vaccine's effectiveness in different ages and races, the vaccines' adverse outcomes in the long-run, and whether the vaccine will affect the next generation, transparency about the results of clinical trials and so on. As the children are at lower risk of dying from COVID-19 [4-5], they should not be vaccinated at such an early stage of vaccines to avoid unnecessary risk in the future.
References
1. Corum J, Grady D, Wee SL, Zimmer C. Coronavirus vaccine tracker. The New York Times. 2020. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/science/coronavirus-vaccine-tra... (Accessed on Dec 17, 2020)
2. Schwartz JL. Equitable global access to coronavirus disease 2019 vaccines. BMJ 2020;371:m4735. doi: 10.1136/bmj.m4735
3. Randolph HE, Barreiro LB. Herd Immunity: Understanding COVID-19. Immunity 2020; 52:737-41.
4. Jordan RE, Adab P, Cheng KK. Covid-19: risk factors for severe disease and death. BMJ 2020;368:m1198. doi: 10.1136/bmj.m1198
5. Omori R, Matsuyama R, Nakata Y. The age distribution of mortality from novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) suggests no large difference of susceptibility by age. Scientific Reports 2020; 10:1-9. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-73777-8.
Rapid Response:
Distribution of covid-19 vaccines worldwide
Dear Editor
Many vaccines against coronavirus disease 2019 (covid-19) are being developed, and some of them have already shown promising results with 70%-95% efficacy in their pivotal Phase III trials [1]. Some developed countries have been approved to use covid-19 vaccines developed by Pfizer/BioNTech [2].
The situation has become more dreadful in the second/third wave of COVID-19. Since herd immunity is far away, effective vaccines are highly desired to save life and unwanted deaths [3]. Vaccines' production and distribution process need plenty of time and may need some years to fulfill global needs. Moreover, vaccines might be a big-budget for under-developed countries. Although the fair distribution of vaccines is already a concern of world leaders, equitable access to the covid-19 vaccines throughout the world is a challenging issue [2]. However, to achieve an effective global vaccination program, global cooperation is required [2].
Secondly, who should get the vaccine in the first stage? Front-line workers like hospital staff need to be considered first. Then older people (60 years or above) should be prioritized as they are the most vulnerable group for COVID-19 and shared the highest percentages of deaths [4]. People with diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, respiratory problems, hypertension, and cancer showed that they suffer from severe COVID-19 [4]. Therefore, people with comorbid conditions (any age) should be listed for the third stage to get the vaccines, followed by the age group 50-59. In the fifth stage, people aged 40-49 years should be vaccinated, followed by 30-39 years.
The vaccine should not be mandatory for all, and consent matters. The vaccines have many unanswered questions and need some years to get answers, such as the vaccine's effectiveness in different ages and races, the vaccines' adverse outcomes in the long-run, and whether the vaccine will affect the next generation, transparency about the results of clinical trials and so on. As the children are at lower risk of dying from COVID-19 [4-5], they should not be vaccinated at such an early stage of vaccines to avoid unnecessary risk in the future.
References
1. Corum J, Grady D, Wee SL, Zimmer C. Coronavirus vaccine tracker. The New York Times. 2020. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/science/coronavirus-vaccine-tra... (Accessed on Dec 17, 2020)
2. Schwartz JL. Equitable global access to coronavirus disease 2019 vaccines. BMJ 2020;371:m4735. doi: 10.1136/bmj.m4735
3. Randolph HE, Barreiro LB. Herd Immunity: Understanding COVID-19. Immunity 2020; 52:737-41.
4. Jordan RE, Adab P, Cheng KK. Covid-19: risk factors for severe disease and death. BMJ 2020;368:m1198. doi: 10.1136/bmj.m1198
5. Omori R, Matsuyama R, Nakata Y. The age distribution of mortality from novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) suggests no large difference of susceptibility by age. Scientific Reports 2020; 10:1-9. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-73777-8.
Competing interests: No competing interests