Are vaccines effective? And how long does the protection last? Report Iss
The responses of the Istituto Superiore di Sanità (Iss) to the doubts about vaccines against Sars-CoV-2
Are Sars-CoV-2 vaccines effective?
To be approved by regulatory authorities, all vaccines must be proven to be effective. In the case of the vaccine produced by Pfizer, the first to be approved, the trials showed an efficacy of 94%. Human tests of several dozen other candidates are underway around the world, some of them at an advanced stage, which will be approved if they prove effective and safe.
What evidence is there of their safety, given that they were approved so quickly?
The tests requested by the authorities and carried out on vaccine candidates against Sars-Cov-2 are the same as for all other drugs and vaccines already approved previously. In Europe it has been possible to speed up the process thanks to the greater resources available and by adopting a revision system of the particular documentation, which envisages examining the results of the various phases of the experimentation as they arrive and not 'in bulk' at the end. In the case of the Pfizer vaccine, tests have been carried out on 44 thousand people in different countries around the world.
For the first time, 'RNA' vaccines will be used. What does it mean?
Usually the 'weakened' virus (or bacterium), or part of it, is injected into vaccination. The immune system recognizes the 'intruder' and produces the antibodies it will use when it encounters the 'real' one. In the case of RNA vaccines, instead, the 'instruction' is injected to produce a particular protein, called the 'spike' protein, which is the one that the virus uses to 'attach' to cells. The cell then produces by itself the 'foreign' protein, which once recognized activates the production of antibodies.
Is this technology dangerous? Do I risk changes to my DNA?
In addition to not having the 'instructions' to modify DNA, messenger RNA never enters the cell nucleus, which is the part that contains the genome, and therefore cannot alter it in any way. Furthermore, messenger RNA degrades after a few days, once its 'task' has been performed.
How long does the protection last? Can I go back to life before the pandemic once I have the vaccine?
The observations made in the tests so far have shown that the protection lasts a few months, while it will be necessary to wait longer periods of observation to understand if a vaccination will be sufficient for several years or will need to be repeated. It is not yet clear, but studies are underway on whether the vaccine only protects against the disease or also prevents infection. At least initially, even those who are vaccinated should maintain some protective measures.
Who will be vaccinated? When will I be able to do it?
In a first phase, health workers and residents of the RSA will be vaccinated. Later, as the supplies of vaccines arrive, we will proceed with the rest of the population, starting with the most fragile subjects, such as the elderly or those with previous illnesses. The vaccine will be free and will be done in public facilities. At the moment, children and adolescents, on whom the vaccine has not been tested, are excluded from vaccination, while evaluations are underway for pregnant and breastfeeding women.
What are the side effects?
Like all vaccines, those against Sars-Cov-2 can cause undesirable effects. During the experimentation, common reactions, already seen in other vaccinations, were found. In all countries that have adopted the vaccine, including Italy, there is still a surveillance system that collects reports.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/sanita/i-vaccini-contro-il-sars-cov-2-sono-efficaci-e-quanto-dura-la-protezione-report-iss/ on Fri, 01 Jan 2021 15:35:09 +0000.