From Volume 48, Issue 2, February 2021 | Pages 157-160
COVID-19 Vaccines are currently the talk of the world. The internet is full of memes on COVID-19 vaccines - myths more than truths. In this commentary we further review some of the issues related to the success and failure of COVID-19 vaccines, and the theoretical and practical elements on vaccinations and immunity that the dental health care providers have to be knowledgeable, so as to offer advice and guidance to their team, the patients, as well as the public.
As discussed in our previous article,1 there are a number of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines belonging both to the traditional, and the next generation vaccine platforms, currently reaching the arms of millions in many regions of the world, from the UK to Brazil. Additionally, at the time of writing, there were at least 10 vaccines approved for early or limited use, and a further 20 vaccines in large scale, Phase III, final trials.2 The vast majority of these should see the light of day in 2021.
A popular assumption is that COVID-19 vaccines will provide herd or population immunity that can reduce transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in the community, leading to a resumption of pre-COVID-19 ‘normalcy’ in the near future. In general, to reach herd immunity, and to suppress community transmission of the virus, about 50–70% of the population would have to be immune to a specific virus, either through naturally acquired immunity (via asymptomatic or symptomatic infection) or artificially acquired immunity through a successful vaccination process. For example, herd immunity against measles requires approximately 95% of a population to be vaccinated while the threshold for polio is lower, at approximately 80%.3
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