London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Jul 30, 2025

Coronavirus: developing a vaccine is one problem to solve, getting people to use it is another

Coronavirus: developing a vaccine is one problem to solve, getting people to use it is another

Vaccination hesitancy may harm the chances of reopening communities. Medical experts say rapid vaccine development is causing public anxiety but wide-scale immunisation may be the only route back to a safe society
Shanghai mother Julia Wei has been closely following Covid-19 vaccine development updates. As a frequent business traveller, she believes an effective vaccine will be the key to a return to social and economic normalcy.

Yet as progress is made – four out of seven candidates developed in China are being tested for broader safety and efficacy before they can get regulatory approval– Wei said she and her six-year-old daughter would be unlikely to voluntarily get a Covid-19 jab. The public has been told a vaccine might be available as soon as the end of this year, or early next year.

“I read that vaccine development usually takes years, but for Covid-19 it’s only several months. This is just too fast – I don’t want to be a guinea pig,” Wei said. “I will just wait until we know for absolutely sure that they are safe and effective.”

Wei is not opposed to vaccines. She has had her daughter inoculated with free government vaccines as well as some that are not part of China’s immunisation programme that Wei believed were necessary.

But concerns such as Wei’s are casting a shadow over vaccination and its potential to reopen society or allow the community to reach “herd immunity”
– the concept that enough people in a population are immune to a disease that transmission becomes unlikely.

The hesitancy is shared in other countries. In a Gallup tracking survey released this month, over 35 per cent of Americans indicated they were reluctant to be vaccinated, even if a Covid-19 vaccine were approved by the US Food and Drug Administration and provided free.

A similar survey by the Angus Reid Institute in Canada showed that about 32 per cent of those surveyed were hesitant and would wait before getting vaccinated, while a further 14 per cent said they would not have the Covid-19 vaccine at all.

Even before the Covid-19 crisis, the World Health Organisation declared vaccination hesitancy – the reluctance or refusal to vaccinate despite the availability of vaccines – one of the top 10 threats to global health last year.

Measles cases, for example, have jumped globally. Even though not all of these cases are because of vaccine hesitancy, some countries that were close to eliminating the disease have seen a resurgence.

“People are concerned because they keep hearing that the vaccines process is being so accelerated that our major vaccine programme is called Operation Warp Speed, almost implying something unnatural about how fast it is going,” said Margaret Hamburg, former commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration in a webinar with Peking University three weeks ago.

“We also talked about manufacturing risk, which is really a financial risk because the governments and companies are actually investing resources in making vaccines in large numbers so that they can rapidly be deployed when those vaccines make it to the finishing line in terms of proving their benefit in safety and efficacy. But when people hear vaccines are made of risk that adds to the concerns.”

Vaccine experts say they understand why some people are hesitant, but that they should not be concerned about the development process.

There was no indication there would be short cuts in the vaccine approval and licensing process because FDA guidance on Covid-19 vaccines was clear and comprehensive, said Wilbur Chen, a professor of medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.

“People should not have major concerns for the safety or effectiveness of Covid-19 vaccines if they are licensed on the basis of well-performed studies that adhere to the FDA’s guidelines,” Chen said.

It was possible that very rare adverse events would be detected only after a drug was licensed, which was not unique to Covid-19 vaccines but could apply to any drug or vaccine, Chen added.

Stephen Evans, professor of pharmacoepidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said it was understandable that people were reluctant but he believed regulators in Britain or the European Union would not approve a vaccine without being presented with convincing evidence of efficacy, that it actually prevented Covid-19 infection and disease, rather than just triggering an immune response.

“I think that the speed is due to a number of factors and I do not see that the process has, so far at least, been deficient. Risks because of quick development would be almost entirely related to the numbers included in a trial,” Evans said. “What is required is sufficient numbers, both to show efficacy in preventing disease and in showing no serious harm.”

Apart from distrust in governments, institutions or aspects of immunisation, industry insiders said there was also complacency concern, the feeling that it might not be worth the trouble if there was no guarantee the vaccine protected against the virus. The target efficacy for Covid-19 vaccines is 50 per cent in China, the US and under the WHO guidelines, similar to the seasonal flu shot. And like flu shots, people might not think it is worth having the jab.

But according to experts, getting vaccinated is important not only for self-protection but also for the community. When a certain percentage of a population becomes immune to an infectious disease, usually through a vaccine, it creates a shield so that even if someone gets infected, the pathogen cannot be spread among the community, achieving herd immunity and protecting those who have not been vaccinated or who have a weakened immune system.

Jonathan Ball, a professor of molecular virology with the University of Nottingham, said the vaccine coverage needed for that herd immunity effect would be determined by its effectiveness. Does it prevent infection and/or onwards transmission or does it stop symptoms but still allow the spread?

“If the vaccine stops onwards transmission and the reproduction number [an indicator of contagiousness of a pathogen] is 3 then we would estimate that 66 per cent of vaccine coverage using a vaccine that is nearly 100 per cent effective would provide herd immunity and stop outbreaks,” Ball said. Many factors in the calculation remained unknown for now, he added.

Chen said that even if a vaccine was found to have moderate efficacy, using it would still help the community.

There could still be a lot of illness, medical care visits, hospital admissions and deaths avoided, so an “imperfect” vaccine could still have a significant effect in a population, he said.

“More people … taking the vaccine will improve that effect in the population. So vaccine hesitancy – or even failing to observe physical distancing, wearing masks and hand hygiene – will be an impediment or delay to safe reopening,” Chen said.

He said that for countries where Covid-19 was under control, vaccination still made sense because the situation had been achieved through short-term measures to cut off transmission – staying home, wearing masks, physical distancing and cancelling large gatherings. And even those nations still had occasional outbreaks.

“Therefore, the only long-term solution allowing the country to be able to safely reopen is wide-scale immunisation with effective vaccines,” Chen said.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Former Judge Charged After Drunk Driving Crash Kills Comedian in Brazil
Jeff Bezos hasn’t paid a dollar in taxes for decades. He makes billions and pays $0 in taxes, LEGALLY
China Increases Use of Exit Bans Amid Rising U.S. Tensions
IMF Upgrades Global Growth Forecast as Weaker Dollar Supports Outlook
Procter & Gamble to Raise U.S. Prices to Offset One‑Billion‑Dollar Tariff Cost
House Republicans Move to Defund OECD Over Global Tax Dispute
Botswana Seeks Controlling Stake in De Beers as Anglo American Prepares Exit
Trump Administration Proposes Repeal of Obama‑Era Endangerment Finding, Dismantling Regulatory Basis for CO₂ Emissions Limits
France Opens Criminal Investigation into X Over Algorithm Manipulation Allegations
A family has been arrested in the UK for displaying the British flag
Mel Gibson refuses to work with Robert De Niro, saying, "Keep that woke clown away from me."
Trump Steamrolls EU in Landmark Trade Win: US–EU Trade Deal Imposes 15% Tariff on European Imports
ChatGPT CEO Sam Altman says people share personal info with ChatGPT but don’t know chats can be used as court evidence in legal cases.
The British propaganda channel BBC News lies again.
Deputy attorney general's second day of meeting with Ghislaine Maxwell has concluded
Controversial March in Switzerland Features Men Dressed in Nazi Uniforms
Politics is a good business: Barack Obama’s Reported Net Worth Growth, 1990–2025
Thai Civilian Death Toll Rises to 12 in Cambodian Cross-Border Attacks
TSUNAMI: Trump Just Crossed the Rubicon—And There’s No Turning Back
Over 120 Criminal Cases Dismissed in Boston Amid Public Defender Shortage
UN's Top Court Declares Environmental Protection a Legal Obligation Under International Law
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
The Podcaster Who Accidentally Revealed He Earns Over $10 Million a Year
Trump Announces $550 Billion Japanese Investment and New Trade Agreements with Indonesia and the Philippines
US Treasury Secretary Calls for Institutional Review of Federal Reserve Amid AI‑Driven Growth Expectations
UK Government Considers Dropping Demand for Apple Encryption Backdoor
Severe Flooding in South Korea Claims Lives Amid Ongoing Rescue Operations
Japanese Man Discovers Family Connection Through DNA Testing After Decades of Separation
Russia Signals Openness to Ukraine Peace Talks Amid Escalating Drone Warfare
Switzerland Implements Ban on Mammography Screening
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
Pogacar Extends Dominance with Stage Fifteen Triumph at Tour de France
CEO Resigns Amid Controversy Over Relationship with HR Executive
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
NVIDIA Achieves $4 Trillion Valuation Amid AI Demand
US Revokes Visas of Brazilian Corrupted Judges Amid Fake Bolsonaro Investigation
U.S. Congress Approves Rescissions Act Cutting Federal Funding for NPR and PBS
North Korea Restricts Foreign Tourist Access to New Seaside Resort
Brazil's Supreme Court Imposes Radical Restrictions on Former President Bolsonaro
Centrist Criticism of von der Leyen Resurfaces as she Survives EU Confidence Vote
Judge Criticizes DOJ Over Secrecy in Dropping Charges Against Gang Leader
Apple Closes $16.5 Billion Tax Dispute With Ireland
Von der Leyen Faces Setback Over €2 Trillion EU Budget Proposal
UK and Germany Collaborate on Global Military Equipment Sales
Trump Plans Over 10% Tariffs on African and Caribbean Nations
Flying Taxi CEO Reclaims Billionaire Status After Stock Surge
Epstein Files Deepen Republican Party Divide
Zuckerberg Faces $8 Billion Privacy Lawsuit From Meta Shareholders
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
SpaceX Nears $400 Billion Valuation With New Share Sale
×