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In the times of smallpox, vaccination was accompanied by blood, sweat, fire and brimstone. Nowadays, a slight fever may make you feel as if you鈥檝e earned the reward of immunity from covid. But you鈥檙e protected even without a nasty reaction to the vaccine.
For now, there鈥檚 not enough vaccine for the U.S., but that could change within a few months. Vaccinating other nations will be key to stopping the pandemic 鈥 and keeping it away from our shores.
Our newsroom has some of the best and smartest health care and health policy reporters in the business. We鈥檝e created a new video series 鈥 鈥淓xplained by KHN鈥 鈥 in which our correspondents and editors answer common health care and policy questions. In this edition we cover consumer concerns over the covid-19 vaccines.
Although vaccine supply is ramping up, the supply gap puts pressure on vaccinating teams to extract every drop they can. Some are asking the FDA to waive guidance against extracting vaccine from two vials with the same needle. It鈥檚 worth a shot.
The Trump and Biden administrations both imposed wartime production requirements. But industry experts say the vast quantities of raw materials and specialty equipment needed for billions of newfangled vaccines have required herculean logistical efforts.
The Johnson & Johnson vaccine that the FDA cleared Saturday was 66% effective overall in preventing moderate to severe covid, while the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines were more than 90% effective. But the numbers aren鈥檛 exactly comparable. And all three shots prevent hospitalization and death.
Even invoking the widely heralded Defense Production Act to pressure drugmakers wouldn鈥檛 overcome vast obstacles.
How two effective vaccines on the market make it so much harder to quickly test any competing vaccines.
Some years from now, infants and school-aged children will probably be the mainstay of a universal vaccination program against COVID-19 in the United States. But first, doctors want to be sure that newfangled vaccines won鈥檛 harm them.
Drugmakers will walk away with massive profits, but much of the pioneering work on mRNA vaccines was done with government money.
The drugmaker says its mRNA vaccine worked in 90% of patients in its trial, but some observers question how long immunity will last and who will benefit.
The AstraZeneca trial is on hold in the U.S. as scientists try to unravel whether a rare neurological condition is linked to the vaccine. But regulators are frustrated by a lack of information from the drugmaker.
Harbor-UCLA Medical Center serves patients who are especially vulnerable to the coronavirus: They are essential workers, have chronic diseases and are members of underrepresented racial and ethnic groups. When the safety-net hospital kicks off enrollment for its COVID-19 vaccine trial Wednesday, it will look to those patients to participate.
Polio terrified Americans, and in 1955, when Jonas Salk鈥檚 vaccine became available, they snapped it up like candy. Sixty-five years later, COVID is the latest dread virus, but many undercurrents could inhibit its acceptance.
The FDA must approve any coronavirus vaccine before it鈥檚 widely distributed, but political pressure could cloud the decision.
Trials are an immense undertaking involving tens of thousands of participants. They鈥檙e likely to start this summer 鈥 but don鈥檛 expect quick results. And what鈥檚 a successful result, anyway?
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