With so many new forms of the Covid 19 species rapidly being transmitted around the world, experts say that it is now imperative to vaccinate people as quickly as possible to develop herd immunity, a holistic resistance to the disease as a whole. Herd immunity can only be achieved if a sufficient percentage of the population, through vaccination or previous infection, develops an immunity against the virus, and those who have not been vaccinated are much less likely to become infected. In her report, VOA correspondent Mariama Diallo discusses the vaccines being administered in the United States and other countries.

In the United States, three vaccines are being usedPfizer / Bionatech, Moderna and the recent addition Johnson and Johnson’s single dose vaccine. Health experts say each has been rigorously tested. There are some differences in the use of these vaccines and there is some debate about how effective they are.

J. Stephen Morrison of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, part of the World Health Policy Center, said: So the question for all people is, why not take the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine? The ‘answer’ is that when Johnson and Johnson’s field trials were carried out, the transmission of a different species of coronavirus began, which was more terrible than ever. So while your biggest goal is to prevent serious illness and death, all three of these will be able to do the job very well. ”

The British-Swedish AstraZeneca vaccine, developed by researchers at Oxford University, has been used worldwide. However, some European countries have recently suspended the vaccine due to fears of a blood clotting infection. Following a review last week by the World Health Organization’s Vaccine Safety Panel, the vaccine has been re-used. “We urge many countries to continue using this important vaccine,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebrisas, director general of the World Health Organization. The AstraZeneca vaccine is particularly important because it accounts for more than 90 percent of the vaccines delivered through Kovacs. ” Kovacs is a global initiative led by the World Health Organization to help ensure a balanced distribution of vaccines, especially in low-income countries. Typically, there are different types of vaccines, some made from older technologies, while others, such as modern and Pfizer vaccines, are made using newer methods, such as Messenger RNA (MRNA).

“Messenger RNA (mRNA) and adenovirus vaccines work somewhat differently,” said William J. Moss, a public health expert at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. “Instead of injecting a protein for the whole virus, we are injecting genetic material into the body so that our own cells can make spike proteins and then develop immunity against the virus.” Several other vaccines have been developed around the world, including Russia’s Sputnik V and several other Chinese vaccines. Mr Moss said that although each vaccine had an important role to play, it was important that they follow a comprehensive data collection process. One thing I would like to say about the two is that one of the problems we faced with them was that the vaccines were started in some populations before the third phase of clinical trials with their data. ”

However, several countries are using the Russian and Chinese vaccines, and health officials in some countries have taken the vaccine first to reassure their people. Recently, Russia’s Sputnik VO, like the Chinese vaccine company Cancino, has provided additional information.

“One of our biggest hurdles is productivity,” said J. Stephen Morrison of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “We need doses of 1,400 crore to 1,500 crore vaccines to bring herd immunity around the world, and that is undoubtedly a large number,” he said. ”

Health experts say that in order to tackle the problem of global epidemics, it is a wise decision to have a wide portfolio of vaccines.