Some customers at the barbershop Mike Brown manages in Hyattsville, Md., say they dont plan to get a coronavirus vaccine. They say that the vaccine doesnt work, or that they have heard Covid-19 is a hoax.
Mr. Browns Shop Spa just outside Washington, D.C., is part of a national initiative thats enlisting Black barbers and stylists to combat vaccine hesitancy. He listensthen talks about how the vaccines have been proven to work.
I use my platform to advocate for truth and dispel myths, said Mr. Brown, who has also held a vaccination clinic in his shop. Ive gotten about 60% of my clients to get vaccinated, he said.
The Biden administration is building on the barbershop vaccination effort as it steps up such community efforts, trying to reach people reluctant to get the vaccine. The White House has acknowledged that its falling short of its goal of getting at least one shot into the arms of 70% of Americans by July 4. Only about 60% of Americans are partially or fully vaccinated. One reason behind the shortfall is vaccine hesitancy and barriers to accessing the vaccine that can disproportionately affect the Black community.
The barbershop program, dubbed Shots at the Shop, is described by administration officials as critical for reaching vaccine holdouts and easing barriers to access.
Gaurav Gaiha, MD, DPhil, a member of the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, studies HIV, one of the fastest-mutating viruses known to humankind. But HIVs ability to mutate isnt unique among RNA viruses most viruses develop mutations, or changes in their genetic code, over time. If a virus is disease-causing, the right mutation can allow the virus to escape the immune response by changing the viral pieces the immune system uses to recognize the virus as a threat, pieces scientists call epitopes.
To combat HIVs high rate of mutation, Gaiha and Elizabeth Rossin, MD, PhD, a Retina Fellow at Massachusetts Eye and Ear, a member of Mass General Brigham, developed an approach known as structure-based network analysis. With this, they can identify viral pieces that are constrained, or restricted, from mutation. Changes in mutationally constrained epitopes are rare, as they can cause the virus to lose its ability to infect and replicate, essentially rendering it unable to propagate itself.
When the pandemic began, Gaiha immediately recognized an opportunity to apply the principles of HIV structure-based network analysis to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. He and his team reasoned that the virus would likely mutate, potentially in ways that would allow it to escape both natural and vaccine-induced immunity. Using this approach, the team identified mutationally constrained SARS-CoV-2 epitopes that can be recognized by immune cells known as T cells. These epitopes could then be used in a vaccine to train T cells, providing protective immunity. Recently published inCell, this work highlights the possibility of a T cell vaccine which could offer broad protection against new and emerging variants of SARS-CoV-2 and other SARS-like coronaviruses.
From the earliest stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, the team knew it was imperative to prepare against potential future mutations. Other labs already had published the protein structures (blueprints) of roughly 40% of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, and studies indicated that patients with a robust T cell response, specifically a CD8+ T cell response, were more likely to survive COVID-19 infection.
Gaihas team knew these insights could be combined with their unique approach: the network analysis platform to identify mutationally constrained epitopes and an assay they had just developed, a report on which is currently in press atCell Reports, to identify epitopes that were successfully targeted by CD8+ T cells in HIV-infected individuals. Applying these advances to the SARS-CoV-2 virus, they identified 311 highly networked epitopes in SARS-CoV-2 likely to be both mutationally constrained and recognized by CD8+ T cells.
These highly networked viral epitopes are connected to many other viral parts, which likely provides a form of stability to the virus, says Anusha Nathan, a medical student in the Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology program and cofirst author of the study. Therefore, the virus is unlikely to tolerate any structural changes in these highly networked areas, making them resistant to mutations.
You can think of a viruss structure like the design of a house, explains Nathan. The stability of a house depends on a few vital elements, like support beams and a foundation, which connect to and support the rest of the houses structure. It is therefore possible to change the shape or size of features like doors and windows without endangering the house itself. Changes to structural elements, like support beams, however, are far riskier. In biological terms, these support beams would be mutationally constrained any significant changes to size or shape would risk the structural integrity of the house and could easily lead to its collapse.
Highly networked epitopes in a virus function as support beams, connecting to many other parts of the virus. Mutations in such epitopes can risk the viruss ability to infect, replicate, and ultimately survive. These highly networked epitopes, therefore, are often identical, or nearly identical, across different viral variants and even across closely related viruses in the same family, making them an ideal vaccine target.
The team studied the identified 311 epitopes to find which were both present in large amounts and likely to be recognized by the vast majority of human immune systems. They ended up with 53 epitopes, each of which represents a potential target for a broadly protective T cell vaccine. Since patients who have recovered from COVID-19 infection have a T cell response, the team was able to verify their work by seeing if their epitopes were the same as ones that had provoked a T cell response in patients who had recovered from COVID-19. Half of the recovered COVID-19 patients studied had T cell responses to highly networked epitopes identified by the research team. This confirmed that the epitopes identified were capable of inducing an immune reaction, making them promising candidates for use in vaccines.
A T cell vaccine that effectively targets these highly networked epitopes, says Rossin, who is also a cofirst author of the study, would potentially be able to provide long-lasting protection against multiple variants of SARS-CoV-2, including future variants.
By this time, it was February 2021, more than a year into the pandemic, and new variants of concern were showing up across the globe. If the teams predictions about SARS-CoV-2 were correct, these variants of concerns should have had little to no mutations in the highly networked epitopes they had identified.
The team obtained sequences from the newly circulating B.1.1.7 Alpha, B.1.351 Beta, P1 Gamma, and B.1.617.2 Delta SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern. They compared these sequences with the original SARS-CoV-2 genome, cross-checking the genetic changes against their highly networked epitopes. Remarkably, of all the mutations they identified, only three mutations were found to affect highly networked epitopes sequences, and none of the changes affected the ability of these epitopes to interact with the immune system.
Initially, it was all prediction, says Gaiha, an investigator in the MGH Division of Gastroenterology and senior author of the study. But when we compared our network scores with sequences from the variants of concern and the composite of circulating variants, it was like nature was confirming our predictions.
In the same time period, mRNA vaccines were being deployed and immune responses to those vaccines were being studied. While the vaccines induce a strong and effective antibody response, Gaihas group determined they had a much smaller T cell response against highly networked epitopes compared to patients who had recovered from COVID-19 infections.
While the current vaccines provide strong protection against COVID-19, Gaiha explains, its unclear if they will continue to provide equally strong protection as more and more variants of concern begin to circulate. This study, however, shows that it may be possible to develop a broadly protective T cell vaccine that can protect against the variants of concern, such as the Delta variant, and potentially even extend protection to future SARS-CoV-2 variants and similar coronaviruses that may emerge.
Reference: Structure-guided T cell vaccine design for SARS-CoV-2 variants and sarbecoviruses by Anusha Nathan, Elizabeth J. Rossin, Clarety Kaseke, Ryan J. Park, Ashok Khatri, Dylan Koundakjian, Jonathan M. Urbach, Nishant K. Singh, Arman Bashirova, Rhoda Tano-Menka, Fernando Senjobe, Michael T. Waring, Alicja Piechocka-Trocha,Wilfredo F. Garcia-Beltran, A. John Iafrate, Vivek Naranbhai, Mary Carrington, Bruce D. Walker, Gaurav D. Gaiha, Accepted, Cell.DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2021.06.029
Gaiha is an assistant professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Additional authors include Clarety Kaseke, Ryan J. Park, Dylan Koundakjian, Jonathan M. Urbach, PhD, Nishant K. Singh, PhD, Rhoda Tano-Menka, Fernando Senjobe, Michael T. Waring, Alicja Piechocka-Trocha, PhD, Wilfredo F. Garcia-Beltran, MD, and Bruce D. Walker, MD, from the Ragon Institute; A. John Iafrate, MD, Vivek Naranbhai and Ashok Khatri from MGH; Mary Carrington, PhD, of NIH; and Arman Bashirova, NCI.
This study was supported by the National Institutes of Health and the Massachusetts Consortium of Pathogen Readiness (MassCPR). Additional support was provided by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Ragon Institute, the Mark and Lisa Schwartz Foundation and Enid Schwartz (B.D.W.), and Sandy and Paul Edgerly. Roider is supported by the Heed Ophthalmic Foundation. Gaiha is supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, a Burroughs Wellcome Career Award for Medical Scientists and the Gilead HIV Research Scholars Program. This project has been funded in whole or in part with federal funds from the Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research.
Conflicts of interest: Roider and Gaiha have filed patent application PCT/US2021/028245.
NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) Norfolk health officials will be at Town Point Park to offer free COVID-19 vaccinations on the Fourth of July.
Members of the Norfolk Department of Public Health will be on-site with their mobile unit providing free Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Town Point Park.
The vaccine event is part of the Fourth of July Great American Picnic & Fireworks. The vaccines are for guests ages 18 and older.
The mobile unit will be located adjacent to Town Point Park in the Nauticus turnaround off the corner of Boush Street and Main Street.
Why can COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy be traced back to party affiliation?
Because many Americans view politics as religion and sport, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox told CBS televisions Face the Nation host Ed OKeefe, who on Sunday pressed the governor on rising COVID-19 cases, vaccine rollout and the states historic drought.
OKeefe was quick to note that Utah is one of four states where the Delta variant, the highly transmissible COVID-19 variation first discovered in India, has skyrocketed.
Hospitalizations are rising again, Cox said, a trend he called concerning.
The good news is that our adult population is getting vaccinated at the same rate as the rest of the country ... were at about 69% right now, Cox said. We have 89% of those over the age of 65 (vaccinated) and we feel really good about that and our death rates have gone down ... but we desperately need more.
About 95% of Utahs recent COVID-19 deaths have been among the unvaccinated, Cox said, a reality he stressed is preventable.
Those are deaths that dont have to happen, hospitalizations that dont have to happen.
Cox recently set a goal to have 70% of adult Utahns vaccinated against COVID-19 by July 4, and on Sunday he said his administration would like to see more young people get inoculated.
Vaccine hesitancy is proving to be a key roadblock in getting all eligible Utahns inoculated; according to a Deseret News/Hinckley Institute of Politics poll, roughly 30% of Utahns are either still hesitant or will never get vaccinated against COVID-19.
Complications also stem from how rural Utah is, Cox said, although he stressed that its never been easier to get a vaccine.
We have set up a very robust vaccine network, our clinics are spread throughout the state, he told OKeefe.
Some of the hesitancy can be traced back to political party lines, according to OKeefe, who on Sunday pointed to the majority of Democrats 86%, according to a Washington Post poll who have received the vaccine compared to the 45% of Republicans who have been inoculated and 38% who say they never will.
Its troubling, Cox said in response.
Ive spoken about this often...how unfortunate it is that politics is becoming religion in our country, politics is becoming sport and entertainment in our country, he said. Its a huge mistake, its caused us to make bad decisions during this pandemic and in other phases of our life as well.
Cox did say that Utah Republicans are doing a little better when compared to OKeefes numbers, although he did not go into specifics.
Some state governments have turned to lotteries and cash incentives to boost vaccine rollout, while other states have taken a more creative route. In Alabama, recently vaccinated people could win a ride on the famed Talladega Speedway, while West Virginia is holding a giveaway with rifles and shotguns, according to Scientific American.
But in an appropriations bill passed by the Utah Legislature in May, lawmakers restricted any of the Beehive States COVID-19 relief funds to be directed toward vaccine incentives.
Cox on Sunday did not rule out revisiting vaccine incentives with lawmakers, telling OKeefe that he would like all options on the table.
Were certainly having those conversations with the Legislature, theyre looking closely at whats working in other states, Cox said. I will say this, not dying is a great incentive.
OKeefe then turned to climate change and the drought consuming Utah, asking Cox what solutions, if any, his administration has in the works.
Cox pointed to two. Number one, he said, was that every person in our state has to use less water.
Thats going to happen in lots of different ways. We have water restrictions across the state, he said, noting that his familys farm in Fairview is currently at 70% of its water consumption.
Number two is to store more water.
As the fastest growing state in the country, Cox said we have to be prepared for generations to come, something he said Utahs early settlers knew how to do.
Were not doing a great job of that anymore, he told OKeefe. Im grateful in this bipartisan infrastructure push, there is money for that kind of infrastructure. Storing water above ground and underground as well will make a big difference.
OKeefe then pressed Cox on the reluctance of some GOP politicians to act on the current environmental crisis, telling the governor that he is a member of a party that includes many that dont still believe in climate change.
Cox pointed to Utah Rep. John Curtis, who recently launched the Republican Climate Caucus, before acknowledging the importance of finding short term solutions to fight the wave of wildfires and drought plaguing the American West.
Were working on electric car infrastructure across the West, so great things are happening there but we also have to take the short term impacts and we have to take them very seriously, which President Biden did this week talking about wildfires in the West.
(Precision Vaccinations)
The journal Nature published an article on July 1, 2021, which says 'mixing COVID-19 vaccines is emerging as a good way to get people the protection they need when faced with safety concerns and unpredictable supplies.'
'Most vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 must be given in two doses, but multiple studies now back up the idea that mixing the OxfordAstraZeneca jab and the PfizerBioNTech vaccine triggers an immune response similar to or even stronger than two doses of either vaccine.'
'People can now feel a bit more comfortable with the idea of mix-and-match,' says immunologist Leif Erik Sander at Charit University Hospital in Berlin.
The results also give researchers confidence that combining other COVID-19 vaccines that havent yet been tested together might also work.
At least eighteen COVID-19 vaccines have been approved for use in variouscountries, and mix-and-match studies so far have been limited. This means,more extensive trials and long-term monitoring for side effects are sorely needed.
Sandra Lindsay immigrated to the U.S. from Jamaica when she was 18 years old. Now, she's going down in history for her role in the fight against COVID-19.
President Biden announced on Friday that Lindsay, who was the first person in the nation to receive an FDA-approved COVID-19 vaccine, will have her hospital scrubs, vaccination card and the badge she wore on the day she received her first dose displayed at the COVID-19 exhibit in the Smithsonian Museum of American History.
She was also awarded the "Outstanding American by Choice" award from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which recognizes naturalized citizens who have made "significant contributions to our country," Mr. Biden said, adding that she "represented the very best of us all."
"Over the past, and I don't believe this, 30 years she doesn't look 30 years old she's pursued her dream of becoming a nurse to allow her to do what she wanted to do most, give back to her new country," Mr. Biden said on Friday. "If there are any angels in heaven ... having spent a lot of time in the ICU, they're all nurses male and female. Doctors let you live. Nurses make you want to live."
Lindsay was vaccinated on December 14. Shortly after her first dose, she said she felt "hopeful" and "relieved."
"I feel like healing is coming," she said. "I hope this marks the beginning to the end of a very painful time in our history."
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Lindsay, who is the director of nursing for critical care at a hospital on Long Island, has been devoted to her co-workers, patients and family over the past year, Mr. Biden noted, but not without cost.
"During the height of the pandemic, she poured her heart and soul into her work to help patients fight for their lives and to keep her fellow nurses safe," Mr. Biden said. "With a grandson at home prematurely she did what she had to do. She kept her distance and kept him safe. He is safe, but she lost an aunt and an uncle to the virus."
He added that she also became the first person in America to become fully vaccinated outside of clinical trials. "She can now hug her grandson," he said. "She's out there making sure her patients and folks in her community are getting vaccinated so they can get back to their lives and their loved ones."
More than 33.7 million people in the U.S. have been diagnosed with COVID-19 since the pandemic began more than a year ago, and more than 605,000 people have died, according to Johns Hopkins University.
As of Friday, more than 327 million vaccine doses have been administered, according to Johns Hopkins, but just 17 states have fully vaccinated more than half of their population. Many are concerned that the Delta variant, which is known to be more contagious, could devastate vulnerable populations that are not vaccinated.
Researchers in the United States have conducted a study showing that the humoral (antibody) immunity induced by vaccination against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) the agent that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) varies significantly among immunocompromised individuals.
The findings come from an interim analysis of an ongoing observational, prospective cohort analysis called the COVID-19 Vaccination in the Immunocompromised Study (CoVICS), which began on April 14th, 2021.
Ghady Haidar and colleagues report that the presence of antibodies (seropositivity) against SARS-CoV-2 was significantly lower among certain groups of immunocompromised individuals compared with among healthy vaccinees.
Seropositivity was significantly lower among immunocompromised individuals who had received solid organ transplants (SOT) and those with hematologic malignancies.
By contrast, among immunocompromised individuals with solid tumors or autoimmune conditions, seropositivity approached that observed among healthy individuals.
The study also found that more than 90% of patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) were seropositive.
The researchers from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center in Pennsylvania say the findings demonstrate how the humoral response to COVID-19 vaccines significantly varies, depending on the underlying immunosuppressive condition.
There is an urgent need to optimize and individualize approaches to COVID-19 prevention among these patients, they add.
A pre-print version of the research paper is available on the medRxiv* sever, while the article undergoes peer review.
Immunocompromised patients are at an increased risk for severe and protracted illness following infection with SARS-CoV-2.
While these individuals should therefore be prioritized for COVID-19 vaccination, the presence of confounding comorbidities has meant their exclusion from clinical trials evaluating the immunogenicity and efficacy of vaccines.
Not surprisingly, recent studies have shown that vaccination elicits antibody responses that fall well below the 100% response rates observed among healthy individuals.
Despite these emerging data, several unknowns persist, including the degree of the antibody response in seropositive immunocompromised patients, and whether antibodies from immunocompromised patients are capable of neutralizing SARS-CoV-2, writes Haidar and the team.
The researchers conducted an interim analysis of the ongoing CoVICS study. The analysis involved 107 HCWs and 489 immunocompromised patients who had been fully immunized with the Moderna, Pfizer-BioNTech or Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
Fourteen days following completion of vaccination, serum samples were collected and tested for the presence of immunoglobulin G (IgG) against the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein.
The spike protein mediates the initial stage of infection when its RBD binds to the host cell receptor angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2). The spike RBD is a major target of binding and neutralizing antibodies following natural infection or vaccination.
The researchers also selected a subset of participants who had their blood tested in pseudovirus neutralization assays.
All antibody levels (seropositive and seronegative patients) in healthy healthcare workers and immunocompromised patients. Figure 2B. Comparisons of antibody levels among only patients with positive results. Figure 2C. Comparison of antibody levels among only patients with negative results, demonstrating that near absence of antibodies in many SOT recipients and patients with hematological malignancies. Figure 2D. Comparison of antibody levels CLL vs non-CLL hematological malignancy patients with negative results.
Among the immunocompromised patients, 183 (37.4%) had received a solid organ transplant (SOT), 160 (32.7%) had an autoimmune condition, 75 (15.3%) had a hematologic malignancy, 37 (7.6%) had HIV and 34 (7.0%) had solid tumors.
Compared with HCWs, seropositivity was significantly lower among immunocompromised patients with SOT (37.2%) or hematologic malignancies (54.7%), than among HCWs (98.1%).
Among the SOT recipients, lung transplant recipients had the lowest seropositivity (22.2%), while liver transplant recipients had the highest seropositivity (60.6%).
Seropositivity was also lower among immunocompromised individuals with solid tumors (82.4%) or autoimmune conditions (83.8%), but was closer to the that observed for HCWs.
Importantly, well-controlled patients with HIV mounted antibody responses that were almost identical to those of healthy HCWs.
Although it is extremely encouraging that 94% of participants with HIV responded to the vaccines, this group of patients continues to be a marginalized group with poor access to vaccination, and outreach efforts should focus on increasing awareness of vaccination in these patients, warns Haidar and colleagues.
The study also found that SARS-CoV-2 neutralization titers were generally strongly correlated with anti- RBD IgG levels. However, more extensive studies will be needed to fully evaluate whether subsets of immunocompromised patients fail to neutralize the virus, adds the team.
Taken together, our findings demonstrate the heterogeneity of the humoral immune response to COVID-19 vaccines based on underlying immunosuppressive condition and highlight an urgent need to optimize and individualize COVID-19 prevention in these patients, says Haidar and colleagues.
The researchers say the findings also have important implications for public health guidance, particularly given that revised guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention permit vaccinated individuals to abandon masking and social distancing in most settings.
Future studies are warranted to determine assessment of cellular immunity, longitudinal measurement of immune responses, and the safety and efficacy of revaccination, they conclude.
medRxiv publishes preliminary scientific reports that are not peer-reviewed and, therefore, should not be regarded as conclusive, guide clinical practice/health-related behavior, or treated as established information.
South Korean senior citizens receive their first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine at a vaccination centre in Seoul, South Korea April 1, 2021. Chung Sung-Jun/Pool via REUTERS
SEOUL, July 5 (Reuters) - South Korea is in talks with mRNA vaccine makers including Pfizer (PFE.N) and Moderna (MRNA.O) to produce COVID-19 shots in the country and is ready to offer the capacity to make up to 1 billion doses immediately, a senior government official said.
The plan, if agreed, would help ease tight global supply of COVID-19 vaccines, particularly in Asia which lags North America and Europe in vaccine rollouts, and put South Korea a step closer to its ambition to become a major vaccine manufacturing centre.
South Korea already has deals to locally produce three coronavirus vaccines developed by AstraZeneca (AZN.L)/Oxford University, Novavax (NVAX.O), and Russia. It also has a vaccine bottling and packaging deal with Moderna.
"We've been holding frequent talks with big pharmaceutical companies to produce mRNA vaccines," Lee Kang-ho, director general for the global vaccine hub committee under South Korea's health ministry, told Reuters in an interview.
"There are only a few mRNA vaccine developers - Pfizer, Moderna, CureVac and BioNTech. Thus there's a limit to how much they can produce to meet global demand... South Korea is keen to help by offering its facilities and skilled human resources," Lee said.
It's not immediately clear how advanced these talks are and whether and when a deal will be agreed.
BioNTech (22UAy.DE) declined to comment, Moderna and CureVac (5CV.DE) did not reply to Reuters' requests for comments.
A Pfizer spokesperson said the company is making efforts to enhance its COVID-19 vaccine supply chain but added "we do not have anything specific to announce at this time."
Lee declined to name local vaccine makers which have the capacity to produce mRNA vaccines immediately, but a government source said they include Hanmi Pharmaceuticals Co Ltd (128940.KS) and Quratis Co Ltd.
Hanmi confirmed that it has a big capacity reserved for Sanofi's (SASY.PA) diabetes drug and it can be used for COVID-19 vaccine production as the Sanofi project has stalled.
Quratis, which makes a tuberculosis vaccine, said its new factory built last year can now be used for mRNA vaccine production.
Reporting by Sangmi Cha in Seoul; Additional reporting by Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva, Michael Erman in New York and Ludwig Burger in Frankfurt; Editing by Miyoung Kim and Raju Gopalakrishnan
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
A U.K. study found the Pfizer vaccine is 33% effective against the Delta variant for people who only receive one dose as opposed to 88% effective after two doses.
HOUSTON Theres a lot to celebrate this Fourth of July as COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations remain at an all-time low.
But it isnt all good news. The number of people skipping the second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine has grown.
We have a large percent 10% of the people in the community here in Houston who got their first shot and didnt get their second shot, said Dr. David Persse with the Houston Health Department.
HHD data shows 147,787 people were overdue for their second dose as of May 28.
The Texas Department of State Health Services says 8.9% of Texans who got the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine skipped their second shot as of June 27, which is more than 1.2 million people.
Thats not good, Dr. Katelyn Jetelina, an epidemiologist with UTHealth School of Public Health, said. It looks like our vaccines, after the first dose, dont work well at all against Delta, so that second dose is critical.
A U.K. study found the Pfizer vaccine is 33% effective against the Delta variant for people who only receive one dose, and 88% effective after two doses.
Jetelina said the Delta variant is the most contagious version of the virus so far and it is in Houston. She urges people to stick to the recommended shot schedule. However, if youre already overdue, getting both doses is key no matter how long you wait in between.
The Australian government's entire vaccine supply agreement with AstraZeneca is being withheld from public release on the grounds it poses a "real and substantial risk" to national security if it were released.
Australia's vaccine rollout has faced one of its most difficult weeks, as many states across the country re-entered lockdown following COVID-19 outbreaksand tensionbetween the states and federal government grows over vaccine supply issues and debates over the AstraZeneca vaccine.
The AstraZeneca vaccine was relied on heavily as part of Australia's initial vaccine plan, with plans for 50 million doses to be manufactured locally under a deal struck with the international pharmaceutical company. The total value of Australia's five vaccine deals is more than $5 billionin taxpayer funds.
But much about the deal with AstraZeneca is unknown.
While the government has published a letter of intent, the contract with the organisation which is likely to amount to more than $1billion of taxpayer funds has never been released.
When 7.30 sought the contract under Freedom of Information laws, it was refused access to the contract in full. One of the grounds for denying access was because it could damage Australia's national security.
An assistant secretary with the COVID-19 Vaccine Taskforce in the Department of Healthwrote that there would be a "real and substantial risk to national security" if the contract were released.
"I consider the particular damage to the security of the Commonwealth to be the fact that disclosure of the information could provide insight into the unique arrangements for the manufacture and supply of the COVID-19 vaccine," theassistant secretary wrote.
"Releasing the information in [the contract] would have the effect of signalling to other countries the terms agreed between the Commonwealth and AstraZeneca.
"The integrity and efficacy of the arrangements to manufacture and supply the vaccine may be compromised and thereby pose a threat to the national security of the Commonwealth if those terms were published."
Gavin Hayman, the executive director of global advocacy group Open Contracting, said Australia's blanket suppression of the deal was striking and at odds with other nations.
"There is no merit in using a national security argument for keeping the vaccine contract hidden from public sight," he said.
"In fact, national security is best served by building public trust in the entire vaccination program. We think publishing the contract with a clear explanation of its key terms can contribute to that."
There is widespread confusion since the government madeAstraZeneca an option for all, but some young Aussies (here and abroad) have jumped at their chance to get the vaccine.
The Department of Health also argued that the information should be withheld because it could damage AstraZeneca's commercially valuable information.
"[AstraZeneca] operates in a global, hyper-competitive market. If the information were to be disclosed in the current environment, it could enable the third party's competitors to obtain a commercial advantage over it by disclosing the commercial and risk positions by which the third party is prepared to be bound," the assistant secretarywrote.
The approach taken by Australia also stands in stark contrast to other countries, according to Mr Hayman.
The European Union, United Kingdom, United States, Mexico and Brazil have all released substantial parts of their vaccine contracts with AstraZeneca.
ABC News: Matt Roberts
Mr Hayman also said the vast public expenditure on these contracts justified a much clearer understanding of how the deals were struck and their terms.
"These contracts contain important information on 'best effort'manufacturing, march-in rights liability, delivery schedules, licensing arrangements for further manufacture at scale, and more," Mr Hayman said.
"Open information on the contracts, delivery schedules, supply arrangements, and other aspects of the vaccination program allows different parts of government to talk to each other and spot problems before they spiral out of control."
A spokesman for Health Minister Greg Hunt referred 7.30's questions to the Department of Health.
A spokesman for the Department of Health said: "The Department of Health fully considered the Freedom of Information request, within its legal obligations, and provided a clear rationale for the document exemptions."
The federal government has sought to keep secret several critical documents relating to Australia's response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
ABC News: Rhiannon Shine
Australia's analysis of COVID-19 in neighbouring Pacific countries is also a tightly held secret.
7.30 was also denied access to a review commissioned by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade conducted by ABT Associates Pty Ltd that examined COVID-19 vaccine delivery capacity in the Pacific.
In a letter, the Ambassador for Regional Health Securitywrote that disclosure "could reasonably be expected to cause damage to Australia's international relations" and would have a "substantial adverse effect on the department's operations to pursue Australia's interests overseas".
Independent senator Rex Patrick has also been seeking to obtain key National Cabinet documents relating to the COVID-19 pandemic response but has been met with heavy resistance.
Senator Patrick said he believed the decision to suppress the AstraZeneca contract was another "highly cavalier" confidentiality claimfrom the Department of Health about the COVID-19 vaccine rollout.
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