If you’re expecting a COVID-19 vaccine that will solve all the pandemic problems, think again: There may never be a working vaccine, or if there is one, it’s likely to be imperfect, according to a British vaccine taskforce member.
Kate Bingham, who serves on the boards of various investment companies, wrote in a letter to The Lancet that “we do not know that we will ever have a vaccine at all. It is important to guard against complacency and over-optimism. The first generation of vaccines is likely to be imperfect, and we should be prepared that they might not prevent infection but rather reduce symptoms, and, even then, might not work for everyone or for long.”
Her dire warnings are clearly an effort to temper people’s expectations as a growing body of research shows that COVID-19 immunity is more complicated than many would suspect. Other challenges include the unique cold storage requirements of this particular vaccine, plus the fact that no one has ever done mass vaccination of adults anywhere in the world before.