A TOP immunology expert has said it is "very naive" to believe that a Covid-19 vaccine will eliminate the virus.

Paul Moynagh, Professor of Immunology at Maynooth University, also said that "we need to be very careful" in treating a coronavirus vaccine as if it is a silver bullet.

2

2

When asked if we should stop thinking of a vaccine as a solution to solve everything, he told Newstalk Breakfast: "Yes, I think we need to be very careful there.

"It depends on how widely available a vaccine is, what the uptake is, how effective it is.

"The bar required in order to get the vaccine to eliminate the virus is enormously high.

"I think the vaccine will be a really important contributor to dealing with Covid-19 and reducing its impact."

He added: "But thinking that the vaccine is going to be released and that this is going to be the panacea, this is going to eradicate the virus - I think that's a very naive one.

"In terms of strategy going forward, we need to move beyond the vaccine whilst accepting that it will be a very important help to us."

He also said that for a Covid-19 vaccine to be effective, it is very important to get a big uptake in people taking it.

His comments come as a new survey from the Irish Pharmaceutical Healthcare Association found that only 55 per cent of people would take a Covid-19 vaccine were one available.

Professor Moynagh said: "Obviously you'd like to get that figure as high as possible.

"Maybe some people are worried that the speed in which we're moving, because generally in terms of developing vaccines it's quite a long process taking a number of years.

"Prior to this, the fastest vaccine ever developed was for mumps, which was around four years.

"So maybe some people are worried in terms of the speed at which we're moving but certainly that shouldn't be a concern in terms of the process that is being followed.

"Obviously in terms of adhering to safety and measuring how safe the various vaccines are, that process is still intact."

He added: "We should know in the next four to five weeks and get some of the readouts from the phase three trials and then look at the data in terms of how effective, how safe these vaccines are.

"It's really important that we get a big uptake of these vaccines, and there probably will be more than one.

"The reason why I say that is agencies like the WHO, they've defined success as vaccines that would give at least 50 per cent protection.

Latest

'horrific tragedy'Bodies of woman and two children, 11 and 6, found in south Dublin house

Latest

covid riseSix more people sadly die with Covid-19 as 675 new cases confirmed in Ireland

Latest

farm horrorDad & son 'took own lives in pact' at Kanturk farm tragedy after son shot dead

Exclusive

HOUSING HORRORMum-to-be fears eviction after turning down rat-infested house from council

MEG BIDMeg in 11th-hr bid to delay High Court fight that could prevent her giving evidence

FOOD RECALLGoujons recalled from Irish shops over potential 'off-putting taste and smell'

"But if we've only got half the population taking the vaccine that is 50 per cent effective, that essentially means we really only have 20/25 per cent of the population protected.

"So really, we need to get as high an uptake as possible.

"That will be a challenge to get half the population vaccinated, in terms of how widely distributed the vaccines will be."

Excerpt from:
Very naive to believe that Covid-19 vaccine will eliminate the virus, top immunology expert warns - The Irish Sun