Medicine Cabinet
By Teodoro B. Padilla
There are common misconceptions about coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines. For one, there is belief that there is no longer a need for a vaccine if one already had COVID-19. The other is that it’s better to get naturally infected with COVID-19 than to get vaccinated. These are wrong, according to the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (JHSPH).
COVID-19 vaccination is a safer way to help build protection. COVID-19 vaccines go through very strict scientific and health authority processes to ensure their safety and efficacy. These vaccines help our bodies develop immunity to the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19 without us getting the infection. Inoculation with a COVID-19 vaccine provides the body with a supply of “memory immune cells” that will remember how to fight the novel coronavirus in the future, said the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
On the other hand, COVID-19 can have serious, life-threatening complications. While some people get better within weeks of illness, some suffer from post-COVID conditions such as fatigue, fever, difficulty breathing, heart palpitations, mood changes, and joint or muscle pain among others.
“There is no way to know how COVID-19 will affect you. And if you get sick, you could spread the disease to friends, family, and others around you,” warned CDC. Some of the people around you may also be at increased risk for severe illness from COVID-19.
The World Health Organization (WHO) noted that “current evidence points to most individuals developing strong protective immune responses following natural infection with SARS-CoV-2.”
While getting COVID-19 may offer protection, known as natural immunity, immunity from natural infection starts to decline after six to eight months. Current data shows that fully vaccinated people still have good immunity after a year and probably longer, the JHSPH added.
“Current evidence suggests that reinfection with the virus that causes COVID-19 is uncommon in the months after initial infection, but may increase with time. The risk of severe illness and death from COVID-19 far outweighs any benefits of natural immunity. COVID-19 vaccination will help protect you by creating an antibody [immune system] response without having to experience sickness,” the CDC explains.
COVID-19 vaccines work in three ways, explained the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations, which represents the research-based manufacturers of vaccines.
One, they lower the chances of getting the virus. This refers to vaccine efficacy or how well the vaccine works. During Phase 3 clinical trials, vaccine efficacy is tested through hundreds of thousands of volunteers around the world. In this phase, some volunteers get a COVID-19 vaccine while some get a placebo or an injection with no active ingredient. Researchers then compare the number of volunteers who got COVID-19 after getting the vaccine being studied. They also compare the number of volunteers who got COVID-19 after receiving a placebo.
All the vaccines that have been authorized by the WHO and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have efficacy rates of more than 50%. This means that all approved vaccines have prevented COVID-19 or lessened its severity in at least 5 out of 10 people who received the vaccine. Some vaccines have even reported more than 90% efficacy rates.
Second, vaccines can protect a person from getting seriously sick if they get infected with SARS-CoV-2. This means lower chances of hospitalization, intensive care unit admissions and deaths from COVID-19 and its complications.
Recall that hospitals in Metro Manila were overwhelmed during a surge of cases in the months of March and April. Patients lined up in tents or makeshift triage areas within the vicinity of hospitals as ICUs, ventilators, and oxygen tanks became scarce during those months.
Several private hospitals offered home care services as beds became scarce. While some survived COVID-19 during the surge, some people were not as fortunate as others.
Finally, vaccines make a vaccinated person less likely to pass the disease to others. The more people who get vaccinated, the higher chances the household and the community are protected. This will help protect the people who could not be vaccinated due to their young age or because of their underlying health condition.
Moreover, the sooner the transmission is prevented, the sooner we get to stop the emergence of more variants.
At the moment, the WHO designated four variants of concern — namely, Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta. These variants have demonstrated an increase in transmissibility or decrease in effectiveness of public health and social measures at a degree of global public health significance.
Variants of interest, on the other hand, are those that are “identified to cause significant community transmission or multiple COVID-19 clusters… to suggest an emerging risk to global public health.” These are the variants Eta, Iota, Kappa and Lambda. Meanwhile, there are also SARS-CoV-2 variants that are designated under “Alerts for Further Monitoring” or those that may pose a future risk.
TEODORO B. PADILLA is the executive director of the Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Association of the Philippines (PHAP). PHAP represents the biopharmaceutical medicines and vaccines industry in the country. Its members are at the forefront of research and development efforts for COVID-19 and other diseases that affect Filipinos.
