Covid-19 Vaccine - Is It Safe? Will It Work?

As a number of vaccines come up in record time to combat the Covid-19 challenge, a closer look at the safety and efficacy of the various candidates in the fray

- Raj Chengappa

AS 2020 DRAWS TO A CLOSE, there is little doubt that it will be regarded as an Annus Horribilis. Not just because of the toll the Covid-19 pandemic took on lives (64 million infected worldwide and 1.4 million dead) but also due to the devastation it caused to livelihoods, plunging the world into an economic trough not seen since the Great Depression. Yet, by the end of the year, amidst all the gloom, there emerged a silver lining that could yet make 2020 an Annus Mirabilis, thanks to the exciting development of vaccines to combat the pandemic.

Vaccines against diseases normally take years, if not decades, to develop. Not anymore. In a major breakthrough, on December 2, just nine months after the World Health Organization (WHO) had declared the Coronavirus disease or Covid-19 a pandemic, the United Kingdom cleared a vaccine developed by US pharma giant Pfizer in collaboration with German firm BioNTech SE for emergency use. Meanwhile, Pfizer, along with Moderna, a US-based biotech firm, which has developed a vaccine of its own, applied for an Emergency Use Authorisation certificate with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), America’s health regulatory body. Both applicants claimed the effectiveness of treating the disease way above the 50 per cent stipulated by the FDA.