According to experts, the United States is in a race against time to vaccinate as many people as possible before other potentially more worrying variants of the coronavirus emerge.
Vaccination in the US has been hampered by delivery issues, insufficient supply and reluctance to get the chance. But to prevent another surge of infections, hospitalizations and deaths, scientists say it may be necessary to reconsider how the vaccines are rolled out to increase the number of shots administered and protect against new strains of the virus.
“We’re really in a race against new variants,” said Wan Yang, an assistant professor of epidemiology at the Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University. “We need to prepare as much as possible before things escalate to a level that puts more pressure on our healthcare systems.”
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The vaccines, one made by Pfizer-BioNTech and one by Moderna, appear to be effective against a more contagious variant first reported in the UK in November. However, with a separate variant that presumably originated in South Africa, early laboratory studies by Moderna showed a decrease in the level of antibodies produced by the company’s vaccine. Although Moderna said antibodies remain above protective levels, the company urged the company to upgrade its existing vaccine to make it more effective against emerging strains.
Meanwhile, it is imperative that states try to vaccinate as many people as possible, said Ali Mokdad, a professor of global health at the University of Washington. This may mean that you have to think beyond the phased-in approach that puts certain age groups and occupations first and instead offers a vaccination to anyone who wants it.
“You can save lives by targeting the vaccine on the elderly, but there will be a time when we have enough vaccines, where these phases for whom first, second and third should be abolished immediately,” Mokdad said.
Mokdad warned that the US is not at that stage yet because there are still too many brackets to be achieved through the supply and distribution of vaccines. Across the country, vaccine deployments have been bumpy, with some countries struggling to administer all the doses they receive, and others being forced to cancel appointments due to declining supplies.
“The reason we are doing this phased approach is because there is limited supply,” said Deepta Bhattacharya, associate professor of immunobiology at the University of Arizona. “In general, you can vaccinate as many people as quickly as possible if you can get the issues right.”
Without a stable pipeline between manufacturing and distribution, Mokdad said, the country remains vulnerable as a new strain that is more contagious or deadly or that could evade current vaccines begins to circulate.
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The prospect is not entirely unfounded, says Dr. Robert Califf, head of medical strategy and policy at Verily Life Sciences.
“The more infected people there are over time, the more likely the virus is to mutate,” said Califf, a professor of medicine at Duke University who was commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration in the Obama administration. , said. “If we do not suppress the pandemic, the risk is greater that one of the mutations may escape the vaccine or therapeutic antibodies, or both.”
This makes it all the more important to curb outbreaks – with standard mitigation measures, such as wearing masks, doing social distances and avoiding large or indoor gatherings – as experts say vaccine researchers are trying to stay one step ahead of the developing virus.
“It’s like a competition between the virus and science,” Califf said.
But there is some optimism, Bhattacharya said, pointing out that the government in Biden has a federal response that is more coordinated than that of its predecessor. Supply issues could also be eased soon if other vaccines, including those developed by Johnson & Johnson and Novavax, are allowed in the US
“It was frustrating,” Bhattacharya said, “but I’m pretty confident that some of the bottlenecks will ease.”
