Name: The coronavirus vaccines have shattered expectations
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The coronavirus vaccines have shattered expectations

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Illustration: Annelise Capossela/AxiosNo matter how hard you squint, or what angle you look at it from, the coronavirus vaccines are a triumph. They are saving lives today; they will help end this pandemic eventually; and they will pay scientific dividends for generations.The big picture: The pandemic isn’t over. There are still big threats ahead of us and big problems to solve. But for all the things that have gone wrong over the past year, the vaccines themselves have shattered even the most ambitious expectations.The vaccines represent a “stunning scientific achievement for the world … unprecedented in the history of vaccinology,” said Dan Barouch, an expert on virology and vaccines at Harvard, who worked on the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.Details: Developing a vaccine takes an average of 10 years — if it works at all. Despite years of well-funded research, there are still no vaccines for HIV or malaria, for example.Most importantly, all the leading vaccines work extremely well.The catch: South Africa on Sunday of the AstraZeneca vaccine because it appeared not to work against the dangerous variant discovered there — which is spreading across the world.But that's a reason for the rest of the world to lean into the existing vaccines, not to be wary of them. Our biggest problems are not with the vaccines, but rather the processes that surround them. “Once the history of this is written, they are going to be referred to as some of the greatest achievements of science,” Zeynep Tufekci, a University of North Carolina sociologist with a track record of prescience on the coronavirus, .This wasn’t a miracle, and it didn’t happen overnight. “What we’ve seen over the last year is the result and culmination of decades of scientific advances,” Barouch said.What’s next: The vaccine race is one of the few areas of this entire pandemic where the U.S. and the world will be able to learn from our successes, rather than our failures. The bottom line: “Good funding, great science and great collaboration with the regulatory agencies — that’s how they were able to do something that I didn’t think could be done in a year,” said Mark Slifka, an immunology professor at Oregon Health & Science University.Sarah Gilbert, a co-developer of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, that an updated vaccine will likely be available this fall to combat the COVID-19 strain . Why it matters: The variant found in South Africa has concerned experts, including , and there have been of the likely more transmissible strain in the U.S.South Africa stopped the distribution of the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine on Sunday, after researchers found that the vaccine "provides minimal protection" against infection from the , Reuters .Why it matters: A halted vaccine rollout is a huge setback for South Africa as it struggles to curb the spread of the virus and its variant and the country approaches . A group of of the National Academy of Medicine urging Black Americans to get vaccinated for COVID-19.Why it matters: Black communities in the U.S. have of the effects of the pandemic. Data also now suggests they are being vaccinated at far lower rates than white Americans in the states that collect such information, writes Axios Vitals author .

Illustration: Annelise Capossela/AxiosNo matter how hard you squint, or what angle you look at it from, the coronavirus vaccines are a triumph. They are saving lives today; they will help end this pandemic eventually; and they will pay scientific dividends for generations.The big picture: The pandemic isn’t over. There are still big threats ahead of us and big problems to solve. But for all the things that have gone wrong over the past year, the vaccines themselves have shattered even the most ambitious expectations.The vaccines represent a “stunning scientific achievement for the world …...

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The coronavirus vaccines have shattered expectations

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