Topic > The Disadvantages of the Covid-19 Vaccine: Accelerated Development

IndexIntroductionConclusionList of references:IntroductionThe global pandemic that affected everyone differently originated in Wuhan, Hubei Provence and Central Chin. “Covid-19 is a virus caused by a new coronavirus called severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SAR-CoV-2). This is issued in many countries that carry out human challenge trials, due to the severity of the disease, authorities in the US and elsewhere have yet to authorize an ethically charged research procedure called “human challenge trials” (Dor, Raban 2020). plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay This essay will explore the drawbacks of the Covid-19 vaccine as it relates to the implementation of human challenge studies and the accelerated process of vaccine development due to the urgency of the pandemic. Human challenge trials or controlled human infection trials are a description of clinical trials used to find a vaccine in which people are deliberately infected with the disease, in order to speed up the process under certain conditions that are tested, “young people and healthy people will be intentionally exposed to the virus responsible for COVID-19” (Callaway). These tests will allow us to find a solution to the pandemic disease. While deliberately infecting people is no joke, Peter Openshaw, an immunologist at Imperial College, said: “It's really critical that we move as quickly as possible towards getting effective vaccines and other treatments for COVID-19, and Challenge studies have the potential to accelerate and de-risk the development of new drugs and vaccines (Callaway). Time is of the essence and normal vaccine development takes up to 15 years to be approved and put into production. The exploratory phase, which involves basic laboratory research, can last up to 2-4 years. Preclinical studies, which include animal tests and tissue culture studies, often last 1 to 2 years. Furthermore, Phases I/III together can last 5 to 7 years. Then a regulatory review is approved by the FDA and can last 1 to 2 years, after which production begins. But as mentioned before, since it is a pandemic, time is of the essence, so the exploratory phase is skipped and the preclinical trial is carried out within a few months. Phase I trials begin and before they end Phase II begins. The Phase III trial begins shortly before, Phase II ends, and at the same time the production of a vaccine begins at risk because not all the results are acquired (Florian). This is because there is no time for errors because every day thousands of people around the world are affected by this situation can endanger healthcare workers, since "current estimates of deaths in the healthcare sector in the United States are approximately 1,000" (Dor , Raban). So, is it ethical to deliberately infect people with COVID-19? Well, there are people who will agree because it will allow us to find the vaccine faster saving countless lives. But there are those who will oppose them, creating conspiracy theories such as “5G technology is somehow the cause of COVID-19” (Cookson, Jolley). However, anti-vaccine people are right when it comes to infecting people with COVID-19 to find a cure. However, there are both pros and cons to finding a vaccine in a shorter period of time. As mentioned before, usually the time to find a vaccine is 15 years, but due to the severity of the situation, scientists are trying every possible development platform to find a vaccine. find the quickest way to 'disarm' this virus, "iRNA and DNA vaccines can be produced quickly because they do not require cultivation or fermentation" (Lurie et al.). Furthermore, the need to ensure the safety of healthcare workers increases the need to find the vaccine more quickly, since if governments delay its vaccine development this would mean the potential failure of the economy. This is due to people being too scared to go to hospitals or the outside world increased risk of For example, the death toll could rise due to limited time of research on the virus. In addition to being an advantage, it is also the fact that animal testing is circumvented: “in light of the current epidemic, this seems like a justified approach, but the problem is that in the absence of animal studies, not we will never be able to predict the results” in humans” (Dab, Shah and Goel). Furthermore, the vaccine is mainly given to healthy young people who have been deliberately affected, so it may not work on older people or people who have already had the disease. Additionally, there are new vaccine technologies that scientists are trying to deliver. Here are three. First, for example, a DNA/RNA-based vaccine that uses fragments of genetic material. Some advantages are that vaccines can be designed quickly based on genetic sequencing alone and can be easily produced, which means they will be cheaper, thirdly they do not cause COVID-19. The disadvantages are that this type of vaccine is not yet medically approved for use and only allows the production of part of the virus and there is a high probability that the vaccine's DNA will be translated into the genome. Secondly, scientists thought about the vectors of the virus. It uses a weak virus that is unable to cause disease on its own, so that its antigens enter the body. An advantage is that sometimes a single dose is enough to provide long-term protection. A disadvantage is that people who are already asymptomatic could reduce the validity of the vaccine. (Mahalingam and Taylor). Furthermore, another type of vaccine technology is inactivated vaccines in which the virus is treated in such a way that it cannot replicate. An advantage of this is that it is a widely used technology and considered safe for people with low immune systems, however, as said in the article, "low immunogenicity, so requires multiple boosters" (Mahalingam and Taylor). : This is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay Conclusion In conclusion, yes, there are disadvantages to finding a vaccine faster and the fact that it may be unethical does not outweigh the fact that finding a vaccine for a virus that already has over 50 million confirmed cases and has killed over 1 million people worldwide (WHO). Therefore, many would say that it is unethical to deliberately infect people with COVID-19, and they are right, it is unethical, but it is necessary. List of references: Heng L., Shang-Ming L., Xiao-Hua Y., Shi -Lin T., Chao-Ke T., Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19): current status and future prospects. Available at: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32234466/Ofer R., Yuvai D. (2020) The ethical case for allowing medical trials that deliberately infect humans with COVID-19. The conversation. Available at: https://theconversation.com/the-ethical-case-for-allowing-medical-trials-that-deliberately-infect-humans-with-covid-19-144240Ewen C. (2020) Dozens deliberately infected with coronavirus in UK “human challenge” studies.