Are COVID-19 Vaccine Rollouts Confusing You? Choosing the "Best" May Be Hard

With COVID-19 vaccine rollouts left and right, it is easy to get confused about which vaccine is the best one for you. On the other hand, answering the question is not as easy as defining a specific "best." Here is what experts have to say about choosing the best COVID-19 vaccine for you.

Unfortunately, until COVID-19 vaccines are readily available, not many have a choice in choosing their vaccines. Additionally, it is next to impossible to select one vaccine that is "best," experts say that there are many contributing factors as to why choosing a vaccine is not as easy as it sounds.

Basing on Clinical Trials

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Many believe that basing the "best" COVID-19 vaccine on clinical trials can shed some light on the timely question. However, this is not the case even for the large-scale phase 3 clinical trials.

According to ScienceAlert, clinical trials often include tens of thousands of people, where researchers compare the number of COVID cases in people that get a dose of the vaccine versus those receiving a placebo. This method measures the vaccines' efficacy or how well it works under tightly controlled conditions.

Different vaccines offer varying efficacy. Clinical trials done by Pfizer reports 95% efficacy in preventing COVID-19 symptoms, while AstraZeneca reports 62-90% depending on the dosing.

On the other hand, directly comparing phase 3 clinical trials is difficult since they occur at varying times and locations. This means that rates of infection at a community level, public health measures, and distinct variants vary. Participants of the study also have varying ages, ethnicity, and possible underlying comorbidities.

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Comparing Efficacy Head-to-Head

One way for us to compare COVID-19 vaccine efficacy directly is to base information on head-to-head studies by researchers. These studies compare the results of people receiving one vaccine vs. the other within the same trial.

In trials such as this, researchers measure efficacy, study factors, and population in the same manner. This allows scientists to factor variance to the differences between vaccines being compared.

A head-to-head trial is currently in the works in the UK in order to compare Valneva and AstraZeneca vaccines with the phase 3 clinical trials expected to come to fruition later in the year, said Valneva in a statement in April.

Which is the Best COVID-19 Vaccine?

Simply, the best COVID-19 vaccine to get is the one that is available to you. Although it is totally reasonable for everyone to desire the "best" vaccine, especially when it comes to such a potent virus, the vaccine you can get now may be the best.

If you can get your hands on a COVID-19 vaccine now, not only will it prevent you from catching the infamous SARS-CoV-2, but it will also help reduce the level of localized transmission, safeguarding more vulnerable members of the community and effectively reducing the risks of severe cases.

All COVID-19 vaccines available now do their job and do it well. From the collective perspective of health experts, these vaccines highly benefit the population. The more people get their doses of vaccination, the faster herd immunity will be achieved, and more lives will be saved.