World gets its first Covid-19 vaccine. Does everyone need to get a shot?

The First approval for a Covid-19 vaccine has come – for a push developed by Pfizer-BioNTech. The approval comes from the UK, which will start vaccinating its population from next week. India may have to wait a little longer to receive its first approved vaccine – either the one developed by Oxford-AstraZeneca and tested by the Serum Institute of India (SII), or the Russian vaccine Sputnik-V, which was developed in India by Dr. Reddy’s lab.

After the Covid-19 vaccine arrived in record time, surpassing the previous record of four years for an anti-mumps vaccine, the question asked is: Does everyone have to be vaccinated?

At the press conference on Tuesday, ICMR chief Dr. Balram Bhargava: “If we are able to vaccinate a critical mass of people and stop virus transmission, we may not have to vaccinate the entire population.”

Union Health Minister Rajesh Bhushan said: “The government has never talked about vaccinating the whole country.” This effectively takes care of the political statements from some political parties that everyone in India is getting the vaccine for free.

But does everyone need a Covid-19 vaccine to ward off the threat of the coronavirus?

VACCINE NOT REQUIRED: EX-PFIZER EXPERT

Just a few days ago, the scientist Dr. Michael Yeadon, the former vice president of Pfizer Pharmaceutical, whose vaccine candidate was the first vaccine to be approved, stated that no vaccine is required to end the Covid-19 pandemic.

Writing for lockdown skeptics, Yeadon said, “There are Absolutely no vaccines are required to wipe out the pandemic. I’ve never heard such nonsense about vaccines. “

“They don’t vaccinate people who are not at risk from disease. Nor do they plan to vaccinate millions of healthy and healthy people with a vaccine that has not been extensively tested in humans,” Yeadon said.

BUT IS THERE A PLAN TO VACCINATE EVERYONE?

The World Health Organization (WHO) and countries like The US, UK, Japan and Canada have already made plans to vaccinate their entire population. They ordered enough doses of Covid-19 vaccines prior to release to cover their entire population.

The Covax plan of the WHO, the vaccine alliance Gavi and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) provides for the vaccination of up to 20 percent of the population in over 90 member countries. They plan to do this in phases – first ensure three percent vaccination in each country, and then increase it to 20 percent before further doses are given to a member country.

The worst hit countries have plans for Vaccine rationing ready, but the question of a universal vaccination requirement remains unanswered. This is a tough question for governments as universal vaccination means they will have to spend a lot of money on time-based procurement, distribution, and administration of the shots to each individual.

If universal vaccination is not given, there may be a risk of Covid-19 recurrence Earlier this year the world was forced into lockdown phases. This cost the world its economic growth. India bore the heaviest brunt when it imposed the heaviest lockdown.

How successful have our vaccines been?

The problem is that in a country like India, vaccination can only be done in phases that stretch over many months. Another problem is that it is not clearly known how long a person receiving a vaccine is protected from new coronavirus infection.

In the past, vaccines have taken years to develop, and that long period provides some guaranteed protection against the target disease. One can measure the success rate of vaccines in eradicating a disease by the fact that To date, only one disease has been completely eradicated from the world – smallpox – and it took nearly 200 years for the vaccine to do so.

India has succeeded in getting rid of polio through vaccination. However, some reports say India still reported around 50 cases of polio in 2019. In any case, the polio virus lives in the world and will not be eradicated. The same goes for tetanus, measles, mumps and even tuberculosis (TB). Flu vaccines are only effective for one season. People live with all of these diseases despite having had vaccines against them for several years.

Can vaccination be compulsory?

In addition, most vaccines in India and the rest of the world are targeted at children and young adults. Immunization regimens for adults are unusual. Given that governments around the world have been reluctant to give vaccine candidates safety clearances, and the length of protection also remains uncertain, there would be people who might not want to rush to get vaccinated.

There weren’t many examples of vaccination failures that resulted in a penalty or penalty. An example can be found in Massachusetts, USA, in 1901, when the government made it mandatory for every adult over the age of 21 to be vaccinated against smallpox. Refusing to receive the vaccine resulted in a $ 5 fine. The program was successful, although the US did not have its last outbreak of smallpox until 1949. But will that also happen to Covid-19 in a world dominated by social media and chants of freedom of choice?

Will the face mask go away?

And finally, do those who receive the vaccine still have to wear a mask and follow other Covid-19 protocols?

The likely answer is “yes”. This is because, while Covid-19 vaccines are expected to prevent a person from getting sick, there is not yet enough evidence that the same person is not a “coronavirus carrier” and the disease changes to an unvaccinated one Person transmits. This makes it necessary to wear the face mask, not necessarily for yourself, but for the good of larger society.