Will the Vaccine end Covid-19?
In the six months since the beginning of the pandemic, all hopes have been locked in vaccine treatment, which is still hypothetical. We may have to stay at home: until the vaccine is found. Close schools: until the vaccine is found. Wear mask: until the vaccine is found. All habits of our old lives have been postponed until the day the Covid-19 vaccine is found.
In addition, we start each week with the news of a new "vaccine found”. We are constantly postponing our hope for an uncertain history with news such as “early success", “promising preliminary results", “stock exchanges rising with the hope of vaccination”. But is the Covid-19 vaccine really strong enough to meet these high expectations? Experts say the vaccine is unlikely to completely eradicate Covid-19. One thing is for sure, even if the vaccine comes out, our lives will just go back to the way they were.
Biologically, it is impossible for any vaccine to provide complete protection against the Covid-19 virus. Logistically, manufacturers have to produce hundreds of millions of doses of the vaccine, and they will do so with technology that has never been seen before. In the simplest term, however, there will be great competition even for glass bottles that will fill hundreds of millions of vaccines.
As if all this were not enough, a significant number of societies are already saying that they will not be vaccinated against Covid-19. Doubts about anti-science against vaccine treatments specific to the 21st-century are so common that even the coronavirus vaccine may not be fully applicable to herd immunity.
The good news is that by the end of 2020, a Covid-19 vaccine will have been developed that we now believe to be scientifically effective. The Covid-19 virus is not a contradictory virus such as HIV (the virus that causes AIDS disease). Scientists have already discovered nearly 200 candidate vaccines, and nearly 50 of them have already begun human trials. Human trials consist of three phases. Phase-1 is for safe use, Phase-2 is for efficacy and dose adjustment, and Phase-3 is for long-term effects by testing on tens of thousands of people. Nearly ten vaccines have already passed to Phase-3, and in the usual scientific process, Phase-3 lasts for several months. In this case, the vaccine is expected to be ready by the end of 2020. But even after finding the right and safe vaccine, it seems like a slow process to deliver the vaccine to everyone.
The logic of vaccines is to be able to activate the immune system in humans without causing the feared disease. Therefore, it can be done with weakened viruses, roteins in viruses, even mRNA genes that mimic the protein of the virus. Getting vaccinated means that you actually had the disease without being sick. We do not yet know the long-term effects of Covid-19 on humans. Nevertheless, experts believe the Covid-19 vaccine will work against infection.
Vaccine-induced immunities provide weaker immunities than those of people who have had the disease. Vaccines are usually injected into muscle tissue and the immune system is expected to be activated by mixing the antigen into the blood. Thus, thanks to vaccines, your body produces antibodies against the disease, and as long as these antibodies remain in your body, every time you encounter the antigen, your immune system recognizes the occupying power and defeats it by fighting it.
Normally, vaccines are mostly applied to muscle tissue. However, viruses that cause respiratory diseases usually reside in the respiratory tract regions. They infiltrate the mucous tissues inside the nose and throat, creating a space for themselves there. When vaccines are applied to muscle tissue, they create antibodies in the blood and these antibodies may not provide protection in the mucus tissues in the respiratory tract. Therefore, they cannot provide complete protection in the placement of the virus in the body. Nevertheless, antibodies in the blood can prevent viruses from descending into the lungs because they can protect deeper tissues in our bodies. This allows us to create a strong barrier to the fatality of Covid-19 infection. As a result, we expect the vaccine to prevent the disease from turning into a severe infection. The Covid-19 vaccine that will be found will probably provide complete immunity and not completely destroy the virus, but will make it easier for our bodies to fight.
You can consider the flu vaccines that are updated every year. Influenza vaccines do not provide complete protection in contrast to measles, polio vaccines that provide full protection. Therefore, the success criterion of a vaccine treatment is measured by being able to soften or prevent infection at a rate of 50%. As a result, our expectation for Covid-19 vaccine will not be to completely destroy the virus, but to make it easier to live with Covid-19. It seems that even if there is a vaccine, the virus will stay with us for a long time, but at some point the pandemic will end thanks to the vaccine.