Once the vaccine is available to the public, people will be able to receive it at their local pharmacy, as they do with the flu vaccine. | stock photo
Once the vaccine is available to the public, people will be able to receive it at their local pharmacy, as they do with the flu vaccine. | stock photo
In Oakland County, COVID-19 has taken the lives of more than 1,400 people and at least 48,000 people have contracted the virus, according to Michigan.gov.
The recent announcement from pharmaceutical giants Pfizer and Moderna that two vaccines are on the way, however, leaves reason to hope that there may be an end in sight for a pandemic that has inexplicably changed the way of life in the state of Michigan and across the country.
Most vaccines take anywhere from 15 to 20 years to develop, according to Arnold Monto, an infectious disease expert at the University of Michigan and committee chair of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee, which will help determine the safety of the upcoming vaccines.
Under the federal plan Operation Warp Speed, the two vaccines that are close to being cleared by the FDA were developed in less than a year and only have two months' worth of data providing proof of safety and effectiveness. Given this short time frame, there is an understandable concern about the safety of the vaccines, but Monto said that both rigorous scientific oversight and potential profit should boost confidence in the approval process for the coronavirus vaccines.
"Money talks," Monto told Bridge Michigan. “There's no incentive... for companies to do this, unless they're really convinced that they can make money and their vaccine will prove superior.”
The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines both have a 94% efficacy rate. And according to Pfizer, out of the 41,135 participants in its vaccine study who received two doses of the vaccine instead of the placebo, only eight participants tested positive for COVID-19 and one participant suffered a severe case of the virus.
The vaccine has shown mild side effects, including body aches and fever, according to Monto.
“This is the first generation of (COVID-19) vaccines; we may have improved vaccines come up later on,” Monto told Bridge Michigan. "Safety monitoring is going to continue."
Michigan.gov has released its vaccine rollout plan, which prioritizes health care workers on the front lines, followed by elderly residents living in nursing homes and other communities that are at high risk of being adversely affected by the coronavirus, including minority groups, the homeless, people who are incarcerated, college students and rural communities.
Priority groups in Michigan could start receiving the vaccine as soon as it is approved, and other groups could have access to the vaccine in late winter or early spring of 2021, according to Monto.
There are no plans to give the vaccine to children at this time, as researchers are unsure of any adverse reactions it may have. Studies so far have not included children.
Vaccines from both corporations will require double doses within a month apart to maximize effectiveness. "You're not as fully protected until you get the second dose,” Monto told Bridge Michigan.
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