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Few people care about who got their flu shot or childhood immunization against a range of deadly diseases. Covid has changed this, turning vaccine manufacturers into household names and calling for choice.
Doses remain rare for the time being, amid globalization brawl inflamed by a dispute between the European Union and the British drug manufacturer AstraZeneca Plc. Most of the more than 90 million people who received a blow are considered lucky for any protection against the pandemic. But vaccines are proliferating, with positive data from studies Johnson & Johnson and Novavax Inc. they place their candidates in turn for approval.
Health officials will have to figure out how to allocate all these different vaccines. European Medicines Agency approved the AstraZeneca vaccine for all adults on Friday, but limited data from studies on its effectiveness in the elderly have led some countries to impose restrictions. Germany said it should only be used for people under the age of 65, while Italy warned against administering it to those over 55.
Many people who have deboned efficacy rates, dosing schedules, or side effects want to decide for themselves. If the options are a Western drug manufacturer that has been verified by an independent regulatory body or a Russian or Chinese laboratory with less transparency, the desire is even greater.
“We ask the government to give people freedom of choice,” said Gergely Arato, a member of the opposition Democratic Coalition in Hungary.
Vaccines Sputnik V Covid-19.
Photographer: Andrey Rudakov / Bloomberg
Hungary breaks ranks with other EU members to approve Sputnik V from Russia and a vaccine from China Sinopharm Group Ltd. together with the three fires wiped out by the European Drug Regulatory Authority – from Pfizer Inc., Moderna Inc. and AstraZeneca. While Prime Minister Viktor Orban is technically offering the choice, his promotion of Chinese and Russian shootings jeopardizes “people’s desire to be vaccinated,” Arato told a news conference this month.
In the US, where the only two photos authorized so far – from Pfizer and Moderna – use similar technology and have demonstrated virtually identical test results, the choice may count less for now. Elsewhere, however, some health authorities have begun to address people’s concerns about vaccine differences.
Dubai, Hong Kong
In Dubai, residents over the age of 60 or with pre-existing conditions can access the Pfizer photo developed with BioNTech SE or Sinopharm.
In Hong Kong, officials have ordered enough doses of vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech, Sinovac Biotech Ltd. and AstraZeneca – along with plans to provide a fourth option – to cover the 7.5 million inhabitants.
The Pfizer image will be available in community vaccination centers, with Sinovac and Astra options offered at private hospitals and clinics, and people will be given the choice they want to receive. This is important in Hong Kong, where some people are wary of administering a vaccine in China.
“If residents do not want to get a certain vaccine, they can choose to receive gunshots at another time and in another location,” executive director Carrie Lam said in December.
Supplies are so tight in most parts of the world that the choice remains impossible. Those who get shot often have no idea what they will get until they walk through the door of a vaccination center or doctor’s office. But that could change if the vaccines from J&J, Novavax and CureVac NV will be released in the coming weeks and as the pharmaceutical giants like Sanofi and Novartis AG gives the effort of the production effort.
EU approval
Even if they don’t offer a choice, health officials have to decide who gets what. La The Cleveland Clinic, Cassandra Calabrese, told patients to get any vaccine they were offered, even if some asked which one they would recommend. “Things may differ as more are approved,” she said in an email.
Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine vials.
Photographer: Oliver Bunic / Bloomberg
The European Union, criticized for the slow launch of Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, expanded its offerings on Friday by approving AstraZeneca’s shooting. In the wake of the growing wave of people wanting to choose, approval came after several days of thorough debate over the effectiveness of the shot, with the German Immunization Commission recommending against its use in seniors.
In the UK, where infections and deaths are much higher than in Hong Kong, health authorities prioritize the rapid inoculation of as many people as possible. The second dose of two-dose vaccines is delayed in an effort to receive the first injections in as many arms as possible. Other countries are considering similar steps.
The distribution is based on “supply and logistics, such as the availability of very cold freezers,” a spokesman for the UK Department of Health said in an email. Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna photos must be kept frozen for long-term storage, while refrigeration is sufficient for the AstraZeneca vaccine.
Efficacy rates
Although the UK has set a list of priorities for vaccine recipients – starting with the oldest, the most vulnerable – it does not allocate the various photos according to a person’s profile, the agency added. So an 80-year-old patient could get the AstraZeneca shot, while someone else of the same age and health could get the Pfizer.
Some Britons express a preference based on patriotism, rather than what they might have read about different efficacy rates or side effects. It does not matter that the vaccine of the American company was 95% effective in large studies, compared to an average of 70% for AstraZeneca shots.
“They say they want to wait for the British man,” Jimmy Whitworth, a public health professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said in a telephone interview. “I think it’s just a nationalist point of view.”
– With the assistance of Veronika Gulyas, Jinshan Hong and Adveith Nair
(Updates to the German and Italian guidelines in the third subparagraph)