The good news is that we can simply ignore the anti vaxxers. We only need to vaccinate just over half a population with a 95% efficacy vaccine to get herd immunity.
Many of our countries have 70% of the population happy, willing, indeed keen to be vaccinated. Most of the remaining 30% are not anti vaxxers but merely people who dont want to go first, who have questions or who doubt the advantage of suppression. To those who want indeed deserve more information can I answer two of the issues raised in previous posts?
First it is not true that Pfizer or anyone else has been given legal immunity for this vaccine. Vaccines have been treated differently from drugs for many years and countries have agreed to assume legal responsibility for complications with licensed vaccines as liability resting with manufacturers was shown to fail claimants. The mechanism varies from country to country but ensures good uptake and a much simplified method of managing any complications that arise. The current Covid 19 vaccines are merely being dealt with in exactly the same way using current legislations
Second the idea of rushing through testing is misleading. Science has been fantastic at identifying the virus, mapping the DNA and developing mRNA vaccines. We would have taken years to do so a decade ago, but it is because of research and development of these methods for cancer treatment. The actual testing of a vaccine however is not the same as the testing for a drug. When we test a drug we need to give it to X thousand people and see what happens. When we test a vaccine we give it until we get so many cases of the disease and then deblind the study to see if more placebo recipients became ill than vaccinated volunteers. Because we have had so many million cases of Covid 19 we have been able to vaccinate enough people with vaccine or placebo to reach enough volunteers who became ill much faster than if we were studying a vaccine for a less common infection. The Phase 1, 2 and 3 studies are as robust as any other vaccine.
As a doctor I will be first in line to be vaccinated as soon as it is offered and I know almost all healthcare workers feel the same. Together with 70% of our populations who want the vaccine we can suppress Covid 19, hopefully within 6 months, and even save the lives of the anti vaxxers. Ironic