COVID-19 vaccines: worth a shot?

By Winnie Pau

Photo by Maksim Goncharenok from Pexels

It’s been over a year since the COVID-19 pandemic made its grand entrance into the world, and now there is a light at the end of the tunnel –– long awaited vaccines that companies have been racing to create have finally arrived in Hong Kong. Yet as the vaccines are just within reach, gaining emergency use authorization, and being distributed, what do students at RCHK think about it? And are they right?

As of March 3rd 2021, Hong Kong citizens who are elderly, healthcare workers, or part of other vulnerable/high-risk groups, can now book for the two COVID-19 vaccines manufactured by Pfizer-BioNTech (Comirnaty) and Sinovac (CoronaVac) that were approved by the Government; jabs offered in 29 Community Vaccination Centres (CVCs) in eighteen districts of Hong Kong. But as plans for widespread COVID-19 vaccination are underway, out of twelve students at RCHK surveyed, all were equal parts thankful yet suspicious of the vaccines. 

One student said, “I'm partially thankful. It's hopeful and an improvement from 2020. But considering that it was created in such a short amount of time, I feel a bit suspicious and wary about it.” Others agreed they felt “slightly suspicious about the vaccines as vaccine development is a tedious process which takes a considerable amount of time,” or expressed concern over “whether the side effects [would] outdo the good or not.”

When asked whether they would take the vaccine as soon as it is made available to them, students echoed similar sentiments that they would not take any vaccine until their effectiveness and safety is clear. 

On the other hand, Megan Chan, a student from Year 11 said that though some hesitance would be involved regarding effectiveness, “I can't imagine an alternative way to end the nightmare that has been this pandemic. It's not just that not taking a vaccine would inconvenience me, but it basically puts everyone around me in danger as well ... If everyone delays taking the vaccine, what's the alternative? Letting COVID disrupt all our lives and taking away millions of others for all of eternity?”

Notably, some students cited “which company the vaccine came from“ as the influencing factor regarding their decision. One specified doubts on the Sinovac vaccine from Beijing: ”I think studies have found it less effective than the others.”

However, when asking the school’s nurse, Ms Louise Wood, for her opinion on the trustworthiness of vaccines, she was positive: ”We are incredibly lucky. I believe the vaccines are trustworthy. I trust that scientists had and have our best interests at heart when they worked around the clock to develop the vaccines to save peoples lives and their own. I will be grateful to receive any vaccine. They have all been tried and tested with minimal side effects. Nothing is ever perfect.” She also believed that students and their families should take the vaccine as soon as possible.  

Sinovac’s CoronaVac vaccine uses the technique of inactivation – using killed viruses so they cannot cause disease but still allow for creation of antibodies. Whereas, Pfizer-BioNTech’s Comirnaty vaccine, uses mRNA technique, directly giving immune cells the instructions to make antibodies. Both require two doses but the resulting efficacy rate differs at 50.4-65.3% and 95% respectively. Though CoronaVac has a significantly lower efficacy than Comirnaty, it still crosses the COVID-19 vaccine efficacy threshold of 50% set by WHO (World Health Organization). The threshold is set at 50% in order to get vaccines approved and more people vaccinated and protected in the community, thus having a substantial impact in reducing risk of disease spread, even if the vaccine isn’t perfect.

What should you take away from this? Though the vaccines may not completely prevent the possibility of getting COVID-19, it is an outstanding improvement to the current vulnerability of everyone in society, especially high risk groups. 

We should all get vaccinated to leave the dark tunnel of this pandemic that has lasted too long, so when it’s your time to book a vaccine – whether you choose CoronaVac or Comirnaty – give it a shot!