This warning comes as a review calls for a global standard to properly assess the effectiveness of vaccines
The first generation of coronavirus vaccines “is likely to be imperfect” and “might not work for everyone”, according to the chair of the UK Vaccine Taskforce.
Writing in The Lancet, Kate Bingham said no vaccine in the history of medicine “has been as eagerly anticipated” and that “vaccination is widely regarded as the only true exit strategy from the pandemic that is currently spreading globally”.
This comes after Dr Tristan Cope, the medical director at Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs the Royal, Aintree and Broadgreen hospitals, said a “huge strain” had been placed on hospital staff in Liverpool and added that numbers were still rising.
But she has cautioned against any over-optimism and that any COVID-19 vaccine may not work for everyone, or last for very long.
“We do not know that we will ever have a vaccine at all,”
she wrote. “It is important to guard against complacency and over-optimism.
“The first generation of vaccines is likely to be imperfect, and we should be prepared that they might not prevent infection but rather reduce symptoms, and, even then, might not work for everyone or for long.”
The COVID-19 vaccine taskforce was created by Sir Patrick Vallance, who is the chief scientific advisor for the UK government.
The taskforce was set up under the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy back in May 2020, with Kate Bingham reporting directly to the Prime Minister.
Cabinet minister George Eustice said Ms Bingham’s analysis was “probably right”.
“A vaccine will be the answer at some point but it is too early to say precisely when that vaccine will come,” the environment secretary told Sky News’ Kay Burley.
“I know there’s some hope there might be something as quickly as Christmas but that’s not by any means a certainty.”
“And it’s also the case, it always is with a vaccine, you don’t know precisely what level of protection it will deliver. Some of them deliver full protection, some don’t.”
George Eustice has recently said that it is “too early to say” how people will be able to celebrate Christmas this year, with strict COVID-19 rules in place across large parts of the UK. On Tuesday, COVID-19 deaths in the UK hit their highest level for five months when 367 new fatalities linked to the novel coronavirus and nearly 23,000 more cases were recorded.
The lead author of the review, Dr Susanne Hodgson, of the University of Oxford, said: “It is unlikely that we will see a single vaccine winner in the race against COVID-19.”
“Different technologies will bring distinct advantages that are relevant in different situations, and additionally, there will probably be challenges with manufacturing and supplying a single vaccine at the scale required, at least initially.”
“Taking a standardised approach to measuring the success of vaccines in clinical trials will be important for making meaningful comparisons, so that the most effective candidates can be taken forward for wider use.”
