Covid vaccination is becoming a more complex choice as many different vaccines become available, Elizabeth Tracey reports
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Covid vaccines have been authorized by the FDA for young children, and Novavax is poised for review and authorization by the agency. Do we really need these new measures in our quest to control Covid-19? Stuart Ray, an infectious disease expert at Johns Hopkins, says yes.
Ray: Having all these vaccines is exciting because we need options. Some people live in a remote place where refrigeration is not easy and so having a vaccine like Novavax that’s stable for longer periods of time at more reasonable temperatures means that we can get vaccine to more people. It also provides us another option in people who might be at risk for some of the rare complications of the mRNA vaccines and the adenovirus based vaccine. As we go forward and learn, we may learn the right schedule, the right sequence of events, the right selections among these. :30
Ray notes that vaccines are a bright light in the pandemic story, having likely saved the lives of millions of people so far. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.