First generation of COVID-19 vaccine 'likely to be imperfect', warns UK taskforce chief

Kate Bingham, the head of the UK government's vaccine taskforce, on Tuesday, October 27 warned that the first generation of COVID-19 vaccine is likely to be imperfect and might not work for everyone. Bingham, in a piece that she wrote in The Lancet medical journal, said that people should be prepared for vaccines that are likely to be imperfect and might not prevent infection but rather reduce symptoms and then not work for long or on everyone. 

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'All vaccines may fail' 

Bingham said that the UK government's vaccine taskforce recognises that there is a possibility of many or all of these vaccines failing and hence has focused on drugs that can trigger an immune response in people over 65 years of age because that is the most affected group by the COVID-19 pandemic.  Bingham said that they are considering only those vaccines that have the potential for approval by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and European Medicines Agency and for vaccine delivery as early as the end of 2020 or, at the latest, in the second half of 2021.

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Bingham said that the vaccine taskforce has now secured access to six vaccines from the 240 vaccines being developed across the world. She said that the vaccines they have secured are across four different formats - adenoviral vectors, mRNA, adjuvanted proteins, and whole inactivated viral vaccines, adding that all of these are promising in different ways. She dubbed AstraZeneca and Oxford's vaccine as the most advanced in the race and said that they also have an agreement with the company to supply a neutralising antibody cocktail as a prophylactic treatment, for people who cannot receive a vaccine or people who need immediate protection, such as health-care workers.

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Earlier there were reports that the NHS Trust hospitals have been asked to prepare for the arrival of the first dose of a potential COVID-19 vaccine before Christmas. The Sun had reported that a major UK hospital is preparing to receive the first consignment of the COVID-19 vaccine and could become the first medical facility in the world to provide COVID vaccination. 

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