How safe are the vaccines against the coronavirus?

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Within a few months, various biotechnology companies around the world have developed vaccines against SARS-CoV-2.

Typically, it can take 15 to 20 years for manufacturers to bring a vaccine to market approval. In the current case of vaccine development against the
coronavirus, it has been – and continues to be – faster. This is also due to the fact that experts have new technologies at their disposal and have been able to build on findings from other vaccine projects against related viruses.

In an unprecedented effort, researchers around the world have worked simultaneously to develop vaccines, sharing their research on the pathogen and consulting early on about development, efficacy and safety data.
with the relevant authorities. Such international scientific collaboration was unprecedented before this pandemic. Several companies have thus developed successful vaccine candidates in a short time and brought them to approval in close cooperation with the authorities.

Vaccination against COVID-19 has been underway in Austria since December 2020. This is an important step in paving the way out of the pandemic and saving lives. After all, when around 70 percent of the population is immune, the incidence of infection is reduced to such an extent that the pandemic can come to an end.

The Corona vaccines in Austria
Four COVID-19 vaccines are now licensed in the European Union. Other promising vaccine candidates are in advanced stages of clinical trials. These include vaccines for which dossiers are already submitted to the European Medicines Agency (EMA) as part of the approval process or for which an application for marketing authorization has been submitted.

Approved COVID 19 vaccines
The currently approved vaccines from Moderna, BioNTech/Pfizer, and AstraZeneca are vaccinated in two doses to achieve sufficient immunity to the virus. With the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, on the other hand, only one vaccine dose is needed for comprehensive protection. Whether vaccination needs to be given every year – as is the case with influenza – is still an open question and is being further investigated in clinical trials.

The federal and state governments have agreed that nationwide vaccination with AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccines will no longer be prioritized. Vaccinations with these vaccines can be given in physicians’ offices to anyone willing to be vaccinated at the physician’s discretion. In addition, the vaccinating physician, in consultation with the person to be vaccinated, is free to determine the interval between the first and second vaccinations for AstraZeneca’s vaccine on an individual basis within the 4 to 12 week timeframe allowed under the marketing authorization. The scientific evidence of increasing efficacy with the longest possible vaccination interval should be taken into account.