Is Covid-19 Vaccine Safe? Should You Take it?

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was first discovered in China (Wuhan city) in early December 2019 (World Health Organization-WHO, 2020). On 30^th January 2020 and 11^th March 2020, it was declared a public health emergency of international concern and a global pandemic respectively (WHO, 2020). The disease spread so fast that, in just few weeks, it had spread to more than 20 countries and affected thousands of people across China and Europe.

As of today (19/06/2020), more than 177 million people have been infected (confirmed), resulting in 3.85 million deaths and 162 million recoveries across the globe. In Uganda, the Ministry of Health has confirmed 68,779 cases (19th June 2021), 584 deaths, and 49,026 recoveries. In general, COVID-19 has been the big news since 2019.

Across the globe, governments and authorities responded differently. For example, while countries like China, UK, and Uganda responded to the pandemic with ‘iron hand fist’, forcing everyone inside their house and clearing the streets, Tanzania, Norway, and Sweden responded in a ‘weird’ style, allowing citizens to responsibly take care instead of forceful gross lockdowns.

In some countries, for example, Uganda, many people were reportedly killed or shot at simply for breaking up the lockdown rules! Irrespective of the differences in tackling the pandemic, almost all countries across the globe believed that the only sure way to end the havoc was a vaccine! And World Health Organization heavily mobilized and took leadership for the new vaccine chase.

The Journey to finding COVID-19 Vaccine

With World Health Organization at the core front, scientists, governments, organizations, and interested powerful individuals were called upon and encouraged to put effort together to quickly find the vaccine and distribute it equitably across the globe. World Health Organization and partners launched Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator, a global collaboration program to help achieve this grand mission. This program ensures availability of finances, human resource, technology, and supportive policies without any one country risking it all by herself! It is a kind of ‘crowdsourced’ funding or insurance of some sort!

ACT was based on four pillars; diagnostics, treatment, vaccines and health system strengthening (for more, read here). The Pillar of this collaboration that focused on COVID-19 vaccine development and equitable distribution was later called COVAX (the in-full could be ‘Covid-19 Vaccine Access’; watch video here).

READ THIS TOO: Is COVID-19 the only serious pandemic we have ever had?

Well, many scientists and pharmaceutical companies put their foot forward to lead this change, to get us the vaccine. In general, vaccines take years to be developed. Additionally, there is high failure rate! However, politicians and global leaders insisted that if we are to beat COVID-19, we needed faster vaccine development. This challenged the scientific community and pharmaceutical industries, and demanded for application of ‘unbelievable’ new techniques and technologies to save the world, and also to make money or simply show your fellow capitalistic competitors that you are the best!

Well, as we speak right now, more than 20 vaccines are out! However, three of the first few vaccines got approved and went on on market, and are now readily in use. These 3 vaccines are: Pfizer/BioNtech vaccine (95% effective, to be stored at -70 Degrees Celsius), Moderna vaccine (94.5% effective, to be stored at -20 Degrees Celcius), and Oxford University/AstraZeneca vaccine (70% effective, possible 90% on enhancement, not necessary to store under any special cold conditions).

While Oxford University vaccine is great, with great advantages, the world seemed more excited about the first two! Nevertheless, in this article, we will explore all the three!

Pfizer/BioNtech COVID-19 vaccine is produced by Pfizer, a large USA pharmaceutical company, and its partner, BioNtech, a German biotechnology company that specializes in mRNA-based immunotherapies. These two companies employed the mRNA technology and developed the 95% effective Pfizer vaccine.

Moderna vaccine is produced by Moderna, a USA (Massachusetts) biotechnology company that specializes in mRNA based vaccines and drugs. According to the available data, the vaccine is 94.5% effective and is currently ready for human use.

Both Morderna and Pfizer vaccine have utilized the mRNA technology or mRNA platform to produce the vaccines. It is important to note that, while data and scientific applications of mRNA technology have been around since 1990s, this is the first time this technology has been utilized for vaccine development, and also got approved for human use!

Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, on the other hand, is a viral vector COVID-19 vaccine developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca, a British-Swedish pharmaceutical and biotechnology company. As already noted in this definition, AstraZeneca vaccine is employing a different technology. The technology is a little similar to what is usually done; introducing a dead or weakened antigen into your body, which triggers antibody making!

To grasp these issues better, let’s explore these two technologies:

Oxford-AstraZeneca viral vector technology

Now, for AstraZeneca, first, they get another virus (adenovirus) and modify it (delete some of its essential genes and replace them with coronavirus genes). Are we clear here? We are saying that the coronavirus instructions to manufacture more coronavirus (specifically, the spike proteins) are packed into another virus (viral vector), the adenovirus, a virus that normally causes flu or common cold, and then transferred to human cell. Good. This idea of enclosing a virus’ DNA (genome) into another virus for transfer into a body cell, human or animal, is the one called transduction

Well, when adenovirus is injected into human body, the immune system does what it usually does; engulf the enemy and swallow him! Well, this enables adenovirus to escape into human cell’s nucleus, releasing its contents (the spike protein DNA) into human’s cell. The ‘foreign’ DNA contains instructions, right? Which instructions? The ones to make spike proteins! Good.

Well, as always, it is now the cell’s duty to read the ‘foreign’ DNA’s instructions and, using mRNA messengers, manufacture spike proteins (or coronavirus) as instructed. Good. Once spike proteins or coronavirus have been made, the body’s immunity recognizes them as foreign and starts attacking them, making antibodies against them, and storing a memory regarding this fight somewhere using memory T-cells. And that’s how we get the immunity! For more on how Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine works, see here

What is mRNA in mRNA technology for vaccine development?

Well, do you remember your O’ Level biology? If you do, you must have come across these two terms: DNA (Deoxyribonucleic acid) and mRNA (Messenger Ribonucleic Acid). DNA is the general organic chemical that has instructions for protein synthesis. All we are saying is that DNA is a chemical that instructs everything (development, functioning, growth and reproduction) about an organism, including humans. It is like a cooking manual for a chef!

On the other hand, mRNA is simply a copy of the general DNA that has special instructions for special protein synthesis. Structurally, there are important differences we could talk about, for example, DNA being double stranded and RNA single stranded or DNA being more stable than the most reactive or unstable RNA. However, this would be a waste of your time, especially if you aren’t a scientist.

So, let us simplify this! DNA is the general manual for your life and RNA is those specific parts or portions of the big manual designed for specific functions! One author says, ‘if DNA is your cooking manual, then RNA is a single page about cooking rice that you have photocopied out of the big manual‘

READ THIS TOO: After COVID-19, how will life likely be?

Ruairi J Mackenzie makes it easier. He calls DNA a ‘blueprint from which all biological life is created, and or a storage device, a biological flash drive that allows the blueprint of life to be passed between generations. On the other hand, he continues, RNA is just the reader (just as your PDF reader or your memory card reader), the ‘software’ that, through a multi-step process, decodes the flash drive (DNA) enabling true access and utilization of the information (the DNA’s genetic instructions). Roughly, mRNA enables manufacture of special proteins for certain functions. To be more specific, our body’s immunity is manufactured by these ‘guys’!

For each of the steps involved in decoding DNA, a special RNA is involved! For example:

1. Messenger RNA (mRNA) copies portions of genetic code, a process called transcription, and transports these copies to ribosomes, which are the cellular factories that facilitate the production of proteins from this code.
2. Transfer RNA (tRNA) is responsible for bringing amino acids, basic protein building blocks, to these protein factories, in response to the coded instructions introduced by the mRNA. This protein-building process is called translation. 
3. Finally, Ribosomal RNA (rRNA) is a component of the ribosome factory itself without which protein production would not occur.

Now that we know what mRNA is and its relevance in protein synthesis, especially the synthesis of immunity-related proteins or cells, we can dive into how Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna are using this mRNA to develop vaccines like pros!

mRNA Technology for Vaccine Development

In general, all vaccines’ goal is one: To trigger your body’s immune system into making soldiers (antibodies) against the disease in question. Usually, this is achieved by introducing a weakened or inactive or a dead form of the exact virus or bacterium into your body. In response, your body produces antibodies to fight off the introduced antigen (or vaccine).

With the help of many forms of white blood cells (or different kinds of soldiers), including ‘the remembering’ ones (memory T-cells), your body will produce the same antibodies when the real disease (this time not the vaccine) comes in! Did you get it? The vaccine which resembles the real disease makes your body produce soldiers or antibodies that protect you against the real disease! Good! A dead or weakened form of the virus or bacterium is used to avoid the risk of actually causing you the disease during this ‘joke’!

Well, with mRNA technology, the same vaccine goal is achieved but via a different way. In this case, instead of first growing up the exact virus or bacterium or specially dealing with it in any ways to create the vaccine to inject you with, guys just mimic the genetic make up of the virus, introduce this genetic make-up into your body, triggering a reaction the real virus would have triggered.

Specifically, for COVID-19, the genetic make-up (mRNA) that is responsible for its special ‘protein spikes’ is synthesized and introduced into your own mRNA, giving your mRNA ‘new’ genetic instructions to produce a protein (or call it ‘COVID-19 virus’) with protein spikes exactly as those of real ‘COVID-19 virus’. Good!

READ THIS TOO: The REAL reason countries and global leaders responded to COVID-19!

With your mRNA manufacturing something similar to COVID-19 protein spikes, the special spikes that enable COVID-19 to attack and also be recognized by immunity, your body’s immunity will sense something unusual and foreign to its expectations, and will trigger the manufacture of soldiers (antibodies) and start a real war, against not real COVID-19 but the proteins that now look like it! Interesting, isn’t it? Well, after this war, your body is able to keep its soldiers (antibodies) around patrolling or somewhere in barracks for future similar attacks or, using special white blood cells, will store a memory of who the enemy is and what has been done to him. When real COVID-19 comes in, your body won’t hustle making research into how to win the war; it will just deploy its standby antibodies and immediately create many more using its memory of the enemy! Have you got it?

What is special here? The goal is the same; to produce antibodies against the disease. However, here, instead of using the real weakened or dead virus to trigger body’s response, scientists are instructing your mRNA to create the virus-like protein itself, deploy or release it, and trigger immunity response!

Is COVID-19 Vaccine Safe?

Seriously, this question is a little tricky. Good thing you aren’t the only one considering these questions! Already 50% of Americans say they won’t take the vaccine, fearing side-effects! Recent studies (here and here) show that 41% of republicans and 4% Democrats don’t plan to get vaccinated. In Uganda and Africa, numbers are hard to get. However, according to AFP report, many Africans are surely running away! But the right question is this: Should you get vaccinated or not?

First and foremost, the available data shows that these 3 vaccines are effective and with no serious side effects. Additionally, for mRNA vaccines, the technology used has some advantages too. For example, there are no risks that you could get sick of COVID-19 since the introduced vaccine or antigen isn’t a real weakened or killed one, but just a synthetic mRNA strand, which even doesn’t represent the whole virus, but the special parts of it, the protein spikes! This is true for AstraZeneca as well since the vector adenovirus is modified and made unable replicate.

Thirdly, you don’t have a better option; managing severe form of COVID-19 is worse compared to the few side effects of the vaccines, including the rare severe allergic reactions they could cause! Lastly, the new technology of mRNA platform is cost effective, time saving, especially for mass production, and seriously exciting!

And yet there are many things to consider:

First and foremost, most of the data available is from the vaccine companies (read here, last paragraph) and has not been peer reviewed (this article says that some data was reviewed by an independent body). So, what do you expect? It is possible there are flaws here and there but the companies go ahead and report positive successes. After all, in general, most pharmaceutical companies care about money than you. Even when they put in place serious controls to give us better products, it is because of the fear of the law, and not their love to see us thrive! To under this deeply, let’s break them down!

Safety of Pfizer/BioNtech COVID-19 vaccine

Already, Pfizer has ever been in scandals of unethical and unhealthy medicines before, the most astonishing one being the one of Nigeria in 1996. According to BBC reports, a clinical trial involving Pfizer’s experimental antibiotic, trovafloxacin, on 200 children in Nigeria ended up with 50 of the children dead!

READ THIS TOO: Museveni and fellows don’t have moral authority to command responsibility in COVID-19 prevention

According to its history of expansion, Pfizer doesn’t shy away from dealing with law or ethics-breaking companies or even buying them. For example, in 1968, Pfizer acquired The Quigley Company, the company that produced and sold asbestos-containing insulation products up to 1970s, affecting many users, and resulting in a compensation deal of about 965 million US Dollars!

In 1979, while completely aware of the company’s scandal involving faulty heart valves that resulted in death of about 500 people, Pfizer went ahead and purchased Shiley. And many more lawsuits (see the screenshot below):

Safety of Moderna COVID-19 vaccine

On the other hand, Moderna has its sins too though the nature of her troubles are a little different! In general, it seems, it is a company with less success than is portrayed, and more capitalistic, pulling in a lot of money on its high promises, and yet delivering less!

Due to her tendency to promise highly, in 2013, Mordena managed to secure USD240 million upfront payment from AstraZeneca, another big pharmaceutical company (British-Swedish) on the promise to highly develop and deploy mRNA technology in management of cardiovascular, renal, metabolic diseases and some cancers! Surprisingly, writes Mark Terry at BioSpace, as of May 2020, the company had no single drug on the market! One candidate, AZD8601, a treatment for myocardial Ischemia had just finished phase 1 clinical trials!

In 2014, the company secured USD100 million payment from Alexion, another big USA pharmaceutical company, now owned by AstraZeneca, to facilitate production of 10 products for treatment of rare diseases (something Alexion specializes in) using Moderna’s mRNA platform. However, the whole deal had died off by 2017 as animal trials showed that the treatments wouldn’t be safe for human trials. Bad enough, this came after the company had, earlier in 2016, announced that it would successfully head for human trials. Later on, the company diverted its energy to vaccines!

Without a single successful vaccine or medicine on the market, the company managed to apply and secure a deal with US government (Trump administration) on the promise that it will successfully produce COVID-19 vaccine in few months. And just like that, the company secured USD483 million investment from American government through Operation Warp Speed, a public-private partnership program initiated by US government to support and ensure timely development of COVID-19 vaccine! And, well, the company delivered irrespective of its mysterious medicines! Moderna vaccine is out and is one of those approved, becoming the first approved ‘medicine’ from the mysterious company!

READ THIS TOO: Could convalescent plasma treatment be a real deal in management of COVID-19 patients?

There are other issues with the company, including the tendency to be secretive about its data and technology, availing less paper work for peer review, and this sickness didn’t miss out on this COVID-19 journey. According to Helen Branswell at STATnews, Moderna didn’t produce critical data necessary for assessing COVID-19 vaccine, same thing reported by Michael Hiltzik at Los Angeles Times. Hiltzik paints Moderna as a capitalistic company, desperately securing her future by all means possible!

Safety of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine

First, AstraZeneca is affordable and, owing to its technology that employs DNA rather than mRNA, it is more stable and safe even under less freezing conditions. In general, it is appropriate for shipping across nations, and distributing across communities. However, AstraZeneca has had its own safety issues.

Following its role out, various reports pointed to a rare and deadly side effect of blood clotting following AstraZeneca jab. Somewhere in UK, 79 got the blood clot effects, and 19 of them died. These same issues have been reported about Johnson & Johnson vaccine, also made using similar viral vector technology.

Anyway, after considerable analysis of the associated danger, World Health organization, European Medicine Agency, and UK Health authorities concluded that AstraZeneca was safe, and benefits far outweighed the risks! Despite these backups, more than 12 European countries went ahead and suspended the vaccine, with some (for example, Denmark) permanently getting it off their shelf. Few countries went ahead and allowed for its use but only among older people who are at greater risk for COVID-19.

To be exact, as of 14th April 2021, only 268 people out of 21.2 million vaccinations had had anaphylaxis (serious allergic reaction) side effects. As of 4th April 2021, 222 cases of blood clot had been reported across Europe where around 34 million people had received the vaccine. As you can see, considering the number of cases and the number of vaccinations, these dangerous side effects are surely rare. In relation to blood clots, one author interprets it as 1 person with the side effect in 100,000 vaccinations!

For Uganda, we received our first 864,000 doses of the vaccine on 5th March 2021 (Friday) under COVAX facility. On 7th March 2021 (Sunday), Uganda received a second batch of 100,000 AstraZeneca vaccine doses, this time donated by India. First phase of Vaccination started on 10th March 2021 with Health Minister Jane Aceng becoming the first Ugandan to get the jab and, on 21st May 2021, second phase started! As of today (19/06/2021, 821,659 Ugandans have been vaccinated.

So far, no official reports of dangerous side effects or deaths in relation to COVID-19 vaccine in Uganda. Even if they were there, I don’t think Uganda is in position to halt vaccination over such rare effects. In brief, you would assume, getting vaccinated is far better and less riskier than not irrespective of the possible side effects. Indeed, even after reports and threats of possible blood clot risks, Uganda’s government deliberately decided to continue with vaccination. Instead, Ministry of Health forwarded monitoring of possible side effects and effecting timely interventions as the best thing to do, a plan that health experts indeed support.

A genuine question is or would be, is the ministry indeed doing the monitoring? Well, you and I know very well that the Ministry of Health’s surveillance system is one of the weakest on the planet. Besides, even if there was someone suffering dangerous side-effects somewhere, I don’t think Uganda’s emergency and response system can save him or her! In all scenarios, the best prayer is that we don’t get any serious COVID-19 vaccine side effects. Nevertheless, here is the Ministry of Health’s toll free number in case of emergency: 0800100066

READ THIS: Museveni just commercialized Uganda’s emergency and response system!

Concerning the manufacturing companies, Oxford University has no known scandals. Being an educational institution as well, it seems it has tried to be ethically and morally relevant! Of course, there is always something, right? Well, Oxford colleges have been reported in some sexual harassment scandals, unfair or unclear paths for students admission, and, majorly, the university or its staff were accursedly connected to Facebook-Cambridge Analytica data scandal. Personally, I regard all these scandals as less damaging to Oxford’s stand with authority to produce a COVID-19 vaccine.

AstraZeneca, on the other hand, has had some few scandals. The 1999-founded company has been reported in issues to do with off-label drug marketing. In this Scandal, the company was accused of marketing its drug, Seroquel (an anti-psychotic drug), for uses not approved as safe and effective, in other words, off-label uses. AstraZeneca settled this with USD520 million.

In another related affair, AstraZeneca was lightly accused of selling esomeprazole (Nexium) as a drug superior to omeprazole. And, in a strategic move, the company lowered the drug’s price below that of Omeprazole. Well, in various studies (see here and here), esomeprazole is indeed better. So, I don’t see a scandal here.

Other scandals include the one that involved death (by suicide) of a research participant at the University of Minnesota. A deeper exploration of this case revealed that even though everything seemed to be under the control of the University of Minnesota, AstraZeneca provided incentives and necessary pressure that preceded the misconduct! For details, read here.

Two other scandals are the one that involved AstraZeneca’s executives and poor financial management and reports of sexual harassment, and a tax related scandal in 2010. For executive scandal, it was AstraZeneca dragging a failed leader to court. In this case, AstraZeneca is acting well. In both two case, AstraZeneca had to pay millions of dollars for settlement!

In general, the two companies aren’t so scandalous compared to the ones behind Moderna and Pfizer vaccines. However, could the ‘false’ or ‘wrong’ marketing strategies of AstraZeneca be at play in marketing AstraZeneca vaccine? I mean, despite the global outcry regarding the vaccines possible dangerous effects, guys from that side are still pushing it down our throats as the best option available! Note that, considering all the data available so far, AstraZeneca is indeed one of the best and safest options. Can data be manipulated too? Capitalists know better!

Verdict: Is COVID-19 vaccine safe?

Seriously, most companies of Pfizer, Moderna, and AstraZeneca size, especially in pharmaceutical industry have lawsuits, controversies, and some sort of critics (after all, success comes with some critics). Besides, some of these accusations can be untrue, just for slander and competition or unavoidable during the course of business. Considering scandals and politics of pharmaceuticals, I would trust Oxford-AstraZeneca more than the other two! Additionally, in my view, AstraZeneca seems to be fairly safe, less expensive, and easy to maintain its cold chain!

Anyway, all I am trying to say is that, with out the law and documented policies that govern such companies, anything can happen! And due to some flaws in the system, so much more is able to happen. So, there is no single reason you should trust a vaccine simply because a company X has made it! Just follow data and rules! And, unfortunately for now, data isn’t enough yet! With less data, we don’t have a full picture of what could go wrong!

Secondly, it is still too early. Yes, in addition to not having enough independent data and analyses, time is still young. There are possibilities for future complications that may not be captured now. Call them long-term side effects. Remember, the new technology is now experimental, save for the scientific steps that are followed! Experiments can surprise!

Thirdly, the technology (mRNA) is new and can be a little surprising; I mean, it involves intercepting your mRNA and instructing it to do some new weird thing; produce spike-like proteins like those of COVID-19. While, genetic interception at mRNA may not be as dangerous as that at DNA level (after all, the RNA is constantly evolving into some other protein, reducing the chances of permanent damage), the danger is still possible. The instructions may not be stopped or may produce more than required or may be misunderstood or may produce something entirely different or may produce long term effects or may induce immunity that isn’t long lasting or may cause your body to over-react or may not work for all groups, for example, young versus old, pregnant versus non-pregnant! And much more. An article on CNN has some answers but they aren’t enough!

Fourth, remember that mRNA is very unstable. Well, during the vaccine development, stability is enhanced. However, so far, Pfizer vaccine can be stored and transported at special conditions of -70 Degrees Celsius, a coldness level that isn’t easy to achieve, later alone maintain. In Africa, cold chain management of vaccines fails even when most of them are still okay at between -4 and -8 Degrees Celsius, how about special conditions of -70 degrees Celsius? If they are to be achieved, the process is costly. And if something goes wrong, who knows what a non-viable mRNA based vaccine can do? This article provides some answers, and they aren’t enough!

Fifth, studies have not yet explored the response of various groups, for example, women, children, adult, pregnant mothers or those breastfeeding, use with other drugs, men, HIV or cancer patients, etc. What if the vaccine can help one group and not the other? What if it can affect fetus or breastfeeding mothers? Available data sees no serious safety issues here! How about young ones, whose DNA and mRNA are in high gears for growth and reproduction and then the old, whose DNA and mRNA are kind of asleep and exhausted from all the life time’s work? There is no enough data for all this! (Read more here)

Sixth, some people (2 in UK and 1 in USA) severely reacted to Pfizer vaccine! And, as has been explored, AstraZeneca has its side effects too. Well, importantly, this number is too small to get worried about. In thousands of people who got the vaccine, only 1 or 2 gets the severe reaction. This isn’t bad. Additionally, in both cases, the reactions were successfully treated. And, lastly, for UK, the victims had history of drug reaction. However, even 1 person counts. The question is, what caused the anaphylactic response? We don’t know for now, but if you experience some reactions on your first shot, maybe, you should avoid the second shot! And, please, report it.

What causes blood clot risks for AstraZeneca? Not clear yet. However, some scientists believe that the reaction is due to adenovirus. It is for this same reason some Johnson & Johnson vaccine recipients have similar reactions.

So, should you use the vaccine?

Openly, I wouldn’t advise you to if you are below 35 years old. First, this is my thinking, you are not among the high risk populations. Secondly, your genes, to be specific, mRNA is still at heavy work, to give you the growth you need.

Wait! I don’t want to mean that injecting the vaccine into your body will affect your genetic make-up in anyway (that would probably be possible if it was a DNA-based vaccine). Remember your mRNA is unstable version of your DNA that is quickly transforming into something else within hours. However, like I said before, surprises do happen!

Remember, we already noted that, in some countries, AstraZeneca has been availed only for older persons. I am following the same logic here.

On the other hand, if you are 36 years and above, don’t hesitate. First, you are among the high risk populations. Secondly, your growth curve has or is coming to flatten and thus less risks associated with mRNA and its growth work.

Additionally, irrespective of your age group (of course, not children), as long as you have another underlying medical condition, you are at a disadvantage with COVID-19. The best thing to do here is to get vaccinated. Studies show that people with underlying conditions usually get severe form of COVID-19 disease and don’t often make it! You don’t wanna risk that, do you?

NB: We are all likely going to take it if governments make it a prerequisite before one can access public services, for example, schools, hospital, airport, banking, and more.

THAT IS ALL.

Do you have anything to say? Share your views in the comments section below