Feb 21, 20214 min read

All about Covid-19 vaccines

This is the moment people have been waiting for, the Covid-19 vaccines are being produced and several have been approved in countries all over the world. People have been desperately waiting since the pandemic set in, but many people are now not so keen to receive a vaccination, with one survey showing that just 40% of adults asked in France intend to get the vaccine, with the highest being in China, with 80% saying they will when they are able to. Another survey showed that not even 30% would get the vaccine if they were offered it this week, but this rate is continuously increasing. This is not just an issue that has arisen from the Covid-19 pandemic, France has one of the highest rates of people against all vaccinations, only closely followed by Gabon and Togo, as shown by the map below.

How many people have been vaccinated?

As of the 20th February, 204.8 million doses have been administered. This number seems tiny, but it is important to remember that there are currently not many doses available, and vaccination programmes only really began in December, and in many countries they are only in the last few weeks beginning to pick up speed. The country that has vaccinated the most people is USA, with having vaccinated 61.3 million as of February 20th. This is followed by China, having vaccinated 40.5 million as of February 9th. However, Israel is leading the race in terms of the percentage of the population having received at least one dose, standing at 49.1% percentage as of February 19th, additionally with 33.3% of the population having been fully vaccinated. Currently, scientists estimate that 60 to 70 percentage of the population need to be vaccinated to acquire herd immunity.

Where does France fit in this?

As of the 19th February, over 3.6 million doses having been injected, meaning that 3.79% of the population have received one dose and 1.68% have received both doses. This is very far behind other vaccination campaigns, notably of the UK’s which started just two weeks before. In France’s first week of the programme, just 500 people were vaccinated, compared to 200,000 in Germany at the same time. Ouch. However, the average has increased to around 100,000 doses daily, with France injecting the 2nd dose after three weeks, whereas many countries have changed this to after 12 weeks. This figure is only an average, as there is a decrease on the weekends, for example on the 11th February, over 175,000 doses were given, compared to under 12,000 on the next Sunday. France is currently aiming to vaccinate 9 million by the end of March, 43 million by the end of June and, very hopefully of Olivier Véran, the health minister, the entire French population by the end of August. Very ambitious of him. Let’s hope that more people become interested in being vaccinated.

What are the different vaccines being used?

This varies by country. In the world, there are currently 10 vaccines that are approved and licensed for general use, but not necessarily in all countries. For example, in the United Arab Emirates, 5 vaccines have been approved, compared to just one in neighbouring Saudi Arabia. In France, three vaccines have been approved, the Moderna vaccine, the Pfizer/BioNtech and the Oxford/AstraZeneca. The Pfizer vaccine is the most widely used in the world currently and has been approved by the most countries. All three of these vaccines have two doses, but the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech have the highest rate of effectiveness, both standing at around 95%. The Oxford vaccine costs merely 3.50€, the Moderna stands at just under 28€, and the Pfizer/BioNTech at just over 17€, making these cheap vaccines, particularly the Oxford/AstraZeneca one. However, these are only three of the 10 approved vaccines around the world, so what are the others? There are six other vaccines, including Sputnik V and EpiVacCorona from Russia, Covaxin from India, and four from China, with two from Sinopharm. These vaccines aren’t being used as widely, as some of them have not been tested to the extent of the others, for example Sputnik V initially missed phase three trials before being approved, and now those tests are being done. The EpiVacCorona is only being used in Russia and Turkmenistan, Covaxin only in India and one of the unnamed vaccines from Sinopharm is only being used in China. The Pfizer/BioNtech vaccine is the most widely used in all countries, there are the most doses available and it was approved the earliest on in many countries.

Sadly, it is important to note that that doesn’t mean the pandemic is going to magically disappear. Many scientists are suggested that social distancing measures will need to continue for the foreseeable future, and perhaps booster vaccines will be needed, particularly as the virus develops and mutations occur.

It is important to note that that doesn’t mean the pandemic is going to magically disappear. Many scientists are suggested that social distancing measures will need to continue for the foreseeable future, and perhaps booster vaccines will be needed, particularly as the virus develops and mutations occur.