The Herald's View: The public must be kept informed if a mass immunisation program, due to start in a month, is to succeed
The development of effective vaccines for COVID-19 in only a year is an outstanding achievement, but the past week has shown the need to keep the public informed if a mass immunisation program, due to start in a month, is to succeed.
The scientific issues are complex but they arise in part from the global shortage of the three vaccines so far approved by credible regulators. The three manufacturers – Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca – cannot produce enough to meet the demands from rich countries in the US, Asia and Europe battling thousands of daily deaths, let alone from developing countries.
It was true that there was no guarantee that AstraZeneca would achieve herd immunity but the same was true for Pfizer since the first clinical trials for both drugs had not adequately tested how effective the vaccines would be in slowing community spread.