Another COVID vaccine, whoopee!

About 70.57 per cent of the world’s people have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine shot. Less than 10 per cent of the world’s population reported being infected. Illustration by C Y Gopinath using Midjourney

There's a certain expectancy in the air, not different from when Apple announces the imminent release of a new iOS for its iPhone. It will have more features, and be smarter, faster and cuter. Everybody wants one.

That's how it is when a new COVID-19 booster hits the market. Last week, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced its approval and authorisation of two new mRNA vaccines, made by pharma giants Moderna and Pfizer-BioNtech, and incorporating protection against the currently active KP.2 strain.

"We strongly encourage those eligible to consider receiving an updated COVID-19 vaccine to provide better protection against currently circulating variants," said Dr Peter Marks, director of the FDA's Centre for Biologics Evaluation and Research.

The good news is that COVID-19 seems to have joined the ranks of nuisance diseases that break out periodically, like the seasonal flu (NB: COVID-19 is not seasonal). Booster vaccines will be released regularly, just as flu vaccines are routinely updated each season to target the latest variant.

As I write this, 5,645,247,500 people worldwide have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine and a total of 13.64 billion vaccines have been delivered. About 775,917,102 cases have been reported to WHO, of which 7,058,381 died.

Am I confusing you? Let me translate those statistics into plain English. About 70.57 per cent of the world's people have received at least one vaccine shot. Less than 10 per cent of the world's population reported being infected, and of them, 0.088 per cent died of COVID-19.

However, as I write this, 20 different primary vaccines have been created and used worldwide, based on vaccine technologies new and old such as mRNA, viral vector, protein subunit, inactivated virus and DNA. These include both recognised vaccines as well as some used only in specific countries. Each vaccine type has issued dozens of booster formulations in response to variants like Delta, Omicron and KP.2.

In other words, a full list of COVID-19 vaccines and boosters in the world today might stretch to as many as 240. No wonder you're feeling a little gobsmacked. Your big question today is: should you get yourself the new COVID-19 booster shot?

Myself, I've taken one COVID-19 primary vaccine, AstraZeneca, and one mRNA-based booster shot from Moderna. I've also been infected by COVID-19 twice, the Delta variant once and Omicron next. Timely administration of monoclonal antibodies set me right in 48 hours the first time; the other time was too innocuous even to mention.

You could argue that the vaccines must not have worked at all since I got infected twice despite being vaccinated twice. I'd argue that no vaccine is meant to confer 100 per cent protection. A good vaccine would trigger your immune system into action, and that would usually be sufficient to confer reliable immunity.

However, like most people with half a brain, I don't trust the global pharmaceutical industry any farther than I can throw it. Big Pharma has a commercial interest in downplaying negative research and the harmful effects of its products while stirring panic about new variants. For example, KP.2 is from the Omicron lineage, which means its symptoms are generally mild and short-lived. You'd likely survive it even if you did nothing about it. But your doctor would rather you took a precautionary booster shot. And Big Pharma would rather you spent a little money.

I felt a twinge of alarm when I learned that AstraZeneca, my first vaccine, has been restricted or phased out in several countries due to concerns that it might cause a rare but serious clotting condition called TTS (thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome). Denmark, Norway, Austria and Australia have quit using the AstraZeneca vaccine altogether, while Germany, Italy and France restrict its use to seniors.

What are they not telling me when they recommend a certain booster or vaccine? What do they not even know yet about the vaccines they recommend?

Here are just a few foggy areas -
- They're still figuring out the long-term effects of COVID-19 and the mechanisms behind long COVID.
- They still don't know how long vaccination-conferred immunity lasts, or how it varies between different vaccines. The current WHO definition of a vaccine promises only that it safely triggers the body's immune system against a specific viral identifier, not that it confers immunity against a disease.
- No one is quite certain what COVID-19 antibody levels correlate with immunity.
- You might think that by now they'd know how SARS-CoV-2 enters and replicates inside cells, but not much is known about how this varies between different cell types or tissues.
- Scientists are still struggling to understand how the virus's effect varies across different regions and people with varying genetics and environmental conditions.
Don't get me wrong. I believe vaccines work. Vaccines indisputably eradicated smallpox, measles, rabies, mumps, diphtheria, cholera and a long list of other diseases. I believe that in most cases the risk of harmful side effects would be easily outweighed by its protective effects, especially for the immunocompromised, elders and children.
But I really, really don't trust what Big Pharma recommends and rich nations and individuals endorse. This time, I'm going to take my chances with the virus.

You can reach C Y Gopinath at cygopi@gmail.com

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The views expressed in this column are the individual's and don't represent those of the paper