The world has long been waiting for a potential vaccine that could finally stop people from contracting the highly-infectious COVID-19 strain and early results from Moderna's vaccine brought hopes up.
Moderna Chief Looks Forward to Good News
In an interview with CNN, the biotech company's chief medical officer Dr. Tal Zaks said the early results of clinical trials on the vaccine "is absolutely good news." Zaks added that if further trials go smoothly, the vaccine may become available to the public by early 2021.
Moderna partnered with the National Institutes of Health to develop the much-anticipated vaccine. While hopes are high for the potential COVID-19 vaccine, the data released Monday with positive results from volunteers who received the vaccine come from only Phase 1 of clinical trials.
Usually, Phase 1 of a clinical trial covers only a small number of people. The said phase also focuses on determining the immune response of volunteers as well as the safety of the vaccine on the human body.
Furthermore, the results have yet to be peer reviewed. There are also seven other companies working on a potential vaccine against the coronavirus.
What Experts Say about Vaccines' Availability in the US
While many people are looking forward to getting vaccinated once a sure vaccine comes out to the public, some experts delivered a painful truth: not everyone in the United States or around the world will get the vaccine right away.
Speaking with USA Today, chief of pediatric infectious diseases at the University of Utah Andrew Pavia pointed out that the truth is, even the world's biggest economy, the U.S., will likely not get a massive volume of a COVID-19 vaccine right away.
"It's inevitable that the vaccine will come out more slowly than we like. We're not going to have 350 million doses delivered day one," Pavia explained.
Furthermore, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices usually makes the decision on who will get a vaccine first.
Former WHO Board Member Warns of Negative Effects of 'Nationalism''
Despite the good news in Phase 1 of Moderna's potential coronavirus vaccine trials, some experts have warned of the possible outcomes after a vaccine is given the green light for public distribution.
While speaking at the National Press Club on Monday, former World Health Organization (WHO) board member and chief of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations Jane Halton noted that "vaccine nationalism" may arise amid calls for supplies to be handed down to locals first.
Halton went on to explain that "the urge for domestic priority, I think, will be very significant." She warned that if one or several countries only seek to secure vaccines for itself "and at the expense of the rest of the world," the rest who do not get the COVID-19 vaccine will continue to feel the brunt of the pandemic.
As of Monday evening, the global infection toll has reached 4,890,680 confirmed COVID-19 cases and at least 320,125 deaths.
