The COVID-19 Vaccine, Should My Employees Get the shot ?

Scientists and CDC tell us we need to get the COVID-19 vaccine posthaste. At least 70% of us should be vaccinated for us to reach herd immunity. This is the fastest way to get back to business as usual. So, shouldn’t we as business people and employers encourage our employees to get the vaccine?

Some of us have questions and doubts ourselves, while others cannot address the concerns of employees. So, let’s take a look at some of the key questions and try to address them.

Aren’t there some questions about the COVID-19 vaccines?

Adapted from CDC/PHIL. Photo Credit: Lauren Bishop | Alissa Eckert

There is an impression that the COVID-19 vaccine was developed way too fast. For example, it took from 1999 to 2019 to develop a safe and effective Ebola vaccine. COVID-19 vaccines however appear to have been developed in months, if not weeks. So, it seems as if they did not undergo the same degree of scrutiny as other vaccines, prior to approval.

Furthermore, the COVID-19 vaccines use brand new scary-sounding DNA and RNA technology. They sound untested and so unsafe.

So, why do the COVID-19 vaccines use ‘new’ DNA and RNA technology?

Most vaccines, including the influenza vaccine, contain intact but weakened, non-disease-causing (attenuated) viruses or bacteria. Proteins on the surface of an attenuated virus or bacteria prime our immune system to produce antibody against that virus or bacteria. This is because our immune system identifies them as foreign proteins that must be destroyed.

Our cells assemble and stitch together amino acid building blocks to produce proteins. Genetic codes in DNA specify the structures of specific proteins our cells should produce. Our cells copy or transcribe the code to produce RNA. RNA carries the message and is the template for assembling each specific protein.

Scientists deciphered the hierarchy and sequence: DNA-to-RNA-to-Protein in the early-1960s. This gave birth to the discipline of molecular biology. It has since been the basis of incredible advancements in science and medicine. It is also the backbone of today’s biotechnology industry.

So, by the late 1980s, it had become obvious to scientists that DNA with the genetic code for a specific surface protein of a virus could work as a vaccine against that virus. That is because our bodies can transcribe the code to RNA and produce that specific foreign protein from the message. The protein would then prime the immune system to produce antibody.

There is no need to vaccinate with a whole virus. So, researchers have been developing DNA and RNA vaccines since the early 1990s.

Are these new classes of vaccines better?

The two types of COVID-19 vaccine contain either DNA with the genetic code or RNA with the message for the same specific piece of coronavirus spike protein. Ultimately, regardless of the make or type of vaccine we get, our body uses the template to produce exactly the same coronavirus spike protein. Our immune system then produces specific antibody against just that foreign protein to provide immunity against COVID-19.

These vaccines are much more efficient and also safer, because they do not contain the whole intact virus. Albeit attenuated, a whole virus has a bunch of other proteins that are presented to the immune system. This is not efficient, but that was all we had before. DNA and RNA vaccines are much more precise and efficient and they are a game changer in fighting infectious disease outbreaks.

It is now possible to develop efficient vaccines against deadly but so far, intractable viruses. For example, the Ebola vaccine is based on DNA carrying the genetic code for a specific Ebola surface protein. Similarly, after decades of failure with intact attenuated HIV, a promising HIV vaccine is now poised to enter clinical trials in 2021. That vaccine is RNA with the template for a specific HIV protein.

Did they not approve the COVID-19 vaccines too fast?

Vaccine development requires studies in thousands of volunteers. Scientists and research physicians collect data on effectiveness and all side effects, and submit them to FDA for critical evaluation. It is the amount and completeness of data and the number and diversity of people studied that is important here, not how long it took to conduct the studies.

Pfizer tested its vaccine in 44,000 people in the U.S. and Moderna in 30,351 volunteers. Johnson & Johnson tested its vaccine in 43,000 volunteers from the U.S., Central America and South America. The studies met or exceeded the number of patients required to generate critical data for approval.

FDA studied the data with a fine tooth comb, as they have done for decades with any vaccine approved in the U.S. That premier government agency with all its capabilities and experience, determined that these new vaccines are highly effective against COVID-19 and have no serious side effects.

If the Ebola vaccine is also RNA-based, then why did it take years to develop?

An outbreak of Ebola in 2000 in Sudan affected 425 people. That was then the largest outbreak of the disease ever recorded. Researchers were already developing a number of Ebola vaccines at the time. However, the number of subjects studied was not large enough to allow researchers to draw conclusions about their efficacy and safety.

Then came the West African Ebola outbreak in 2014 which infected 23,000 people. That outbreak put thousands of people at risk, which enabled studies to be done in thousands more of exposed people, but still the data was not sufficient to prove safety and efficacy. The second largest outbreak only recently occurred in the Republic of Zaire Congo in 2018-2019. About 3,500 people were infected and tens of thousands were at risk of infection. This provided an additional opportunity finally to obtain data in thousands of subjects, and to show conclusively that the vaccine is safe and efficacious.

So it took until 2019 to find enough suitable subjects and obtain the critical mass of data needed to demonstrate safety and efficacy. FDA approved the Ebola vaccine in 2019.

Researchers were able to recruit tens of thousands of volunteers in a very short time to obtain critical data for approval of the COVID-19 Vaccines

COVID-19 on the other hand is a pandemic with hundreds of thousands of people infected. Very early on, millions of people were already at risk of exposure. The virus is also highly contagious, so people exposed to the virus would become infected with a high degree of probability.

There was therefore no shortage of willing and suitable volunteers. Consequently it took weeks, as opposed to years, to recruit tens of thousands of volunteers for clinical studies with the COVID-19 vaccine. This in turn dramatically shortened the approval time.

Lets get back to business!

We should actually marvel and appreciate the tremendous advances we have made in science, technology and medicine. Left to its own devices, this pandemic could have easily wiped out over a quarter of our planet’s population. But we have effectively harnessed knowledge from decades of scientific research to develop a COVID-19 vaccine to fight the threat.

In a very short time, we have invented and developed the most effective and safest vaccines ever developed. We now have the ultimate weapons in our arsenal to beat COVID-19 and get back to business.