Another COVID vaccine, whoopee!

Therersquos 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 oneThatrsquos how it is when a new COVID19 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 PfizerBioNtech and incorporating protection against the currently active KP2 strainldquoWe strongly encourage those eligible to consider receiving an updated COVID19 vaccine to provide better protection against currently circulating variantsrdquo said Dr Peter Marks director of the FDArsquos Centre for Biologics Evaluation and ResearchThe good news is that COVID19 seems to have joined the ranks of nuisance diseases that break out periodically like the seasonal flu NB COVID19 is not seasonal Booster vaccines will be released regularly just as flu vaccines are routinely updated each season to target the latest variantAs I write this 5645247500 people worldwide have received at least one COVID19 vaccine and a total of 1364 billion vaccines have been delivered About 775917102 cases have been reported to WHO of which 7058381 diedAm I confusing you Let me translate those statistics into plain English About 7057 per cent of the worldrsquos people have received at least one vaccine shot Less than 10 per cent of the worldrsquos population reported being infected and of them 0088 per cent died of COVID19However 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 KP2In other words a full list of COVID19 vaccines and boosters in the world today might stretch to as many as 240 No wonder yoursquore feeling a little gobsmacked Your big question today is should you get yourself the new COVID19 booster shotMyself Irsquove taken one COVID19 primary vaccine AstraZeneca and one mRNAbased booster shot from Moderna Irsquove also been infected by COVID19 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 mentionYou could argue that the vaccines must not have worked at all since I got infected twice despite being vaccinated twice Irsquod 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 immunityHowever like most people with half a brain I donrsquot 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 KP2 is from the Omicron lineage which means its symptoms are generally mild and shortlived Yoursquod 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 moneyI 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 seniorsWhat are they not telling me when they recommend a certain booster or vaccine What do they not even know yet about the vaccines they recommendHere are just a few foggy areas mdashmdash Theyrsquore still figuring out the longterm effects of COVID19 and the mechanisms behind long COVIDmdash They still donrsquot know how long vaccinationconferred immunity lasts or how it varies between different vaccines The current WHO definition of a vaccine promises only that it safely triggers the bodyrsquos immune system against a specific viral identifier not that it confers immunity against a diseasemdash No one is quite certain what COVID19 antibody levels correlate with immunitymdash You might think that by now theyrsquod know how SARSCoV2 enters and replicates inside cells but not much is known about how this varies between different cell types or tissuesmdash Scientists are still struggling to understand how the virusrsquos effect varies across different regions and people with varying genetics and environmental conditionsDonrsquot 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 childrenBut I really really donrsquot trust what Big Pharma recommends and rich nations and individuals endorse This time Irsquom going to take my chances with the virusYou can reach C Y Gopinath at cygopigmailcomSend your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper