Speed of Covid-19 vaccine race raises safety concerns

BRUSSELS — The frenetic race to develop a Covid-19 vaccine has intensified safety concerns about an inoculation, prompting governments and drugmakers to raise awareness to ensure their efforts to beat the coronavirus aren’t derailed by public distrust.

There are more than 200 Covid-19 vaccine candidates in development globally, including more than 20 in human clinical trials. US President Donald Trump has vowed to have a shot ready before year’s end, although they typically take 10 years or longer to develop and test for safety and effectiveness.

In the drive to find a potential Covid-19 vaccine “fast is good for politicians,” said Heidi Larson, who leads the Vaccine Confidence Project (VCP), a global surveillance programme on vaccine trust.

“But from the public perspective, the general sentiment is: ‘too fast can’t be safe’”, she said.

Regulators around the world have repeatedly said speed will not compromise safety, as quicker results would stem from conducting in parallel trials that are usually done in sequence.

However, these reassurances have failed to convince many, including in Western countries where scepticism about vaccinations was already growing before the pandemic.

Preliminary results of a survey conducted over the last three months in 19 countries showed that only about 70 per cent of British and US respondents would take a Covid-19 vaccine if available, Scott Ratzan, co-leader of ‘Business Partners to CONVINCE’, said.

“We just see this distrust growing against science and government,” said Ratzan.

“We need to address legitimate concerns about the rapid pace of development, political over-promises and the risks of vaccination.” —