Experts Say S’pore’s 2 mRNA Vaccines Will Sufficiently Protect Against All COVID-19 Variants

This message is not sponsored by Pfizer and BioNTech. Or Moderna. 

We wish it was, then maybe we’d get paid more.

mRNA Vaccines Used in Singapore Adequately Protect Against COVID-19 Variants

Recent news of “breakthrough infections” in healthcare workers fully vaccinated against COVID-19 has given many some justified fright. 

Clearly, vaccines are not in-vaccin-ble. (Get it?)

However, despite these high-profile individual cases, experts still believe that the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, the two used by Singapore, are still sufficiently effective to protect against different variants of the coronavirus.

Such variants comprise variants of concern (VOCs)—strains that can deal a great amount of harm—and variants of interest (VOIs)—strains that could potentially become VOCs. Three VOCs and two VOIs have been identified in Singapore’s community cases.

The three VOCs include the B117 U.K. variant, the P1 Brazilian variant, and the B1351 South African variant. They are categorised as such because they can spread more easily.

The two VOIs are the B16171 and B16172 Indian variants. The former has been found in the Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH), Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officer, and the Tuas South community care facility clusters. The latter has been contracted by three individuals in a household.

Interviews conducted by The Straits Times show that most experts are confident in the efficacy of the vaccines, with Professor Ooi Eng Eong of Duke-NUS Medical School commenting that there is “no significant loss in efficacy”. 

While some experts cautioned that there is yet insufficient data to fully verify that claim, others believe that even the pessimistic scenario would only be a “slight reduction in efficacy” to the vaccines’ already stellar figures.

Both vaccines have been concluded to provide 95% protection against instances of severe illness, a figure that deserves both hope and caution because while effective, they still cannot fully prevent infection.

Professor Hsu Liyang from the National University of Singapore (NUS) also argued that even a small reduction in efficacy against different variants could “translate into significant numbers if the virus is more efficient at transmitting”.

It is therefore important, according to Professor Dale Fisher of the National University Hospital (NUH), that we “simply regard them all as a threat”, and implement measures accordingly.

Seeing COVID-19 variants as threats also involves deciding the “acceptable costs for Singapore”, according to Prof Hsu, who cautioned that “cases, clusters, and deaths are unavoidable over the next few years”.

How true, but how morbid. 

If you’re interested in finding out why exactly the coronavirus can mutate into VOCs, check out our video below!

How Do mRNA Vaccines Work?

Both of the vaccines use a newer technology that involves teaching our cells to recognise the spike proteins of the coronavirus.

In these vaccines, the mRNA of the virus that contains the instructions for making the spike protein is released to our cells. Our cells then make these proteins accordingly for our immune systems to respond to and make antibodies for, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Since no virus—dead or alive—is used in the production process, you can’t get COVID-19 from being vaccinated. They also do not affect our DNA in any way, since they are disposed of without entering the nuclei of our cells.

So you can’t get cancer from the vaccine tampering with your genetic material either. My family chat really needs to hear that.

To know more about the vaccines, watch this video to the end:

Feature Image: Viacheslav Lopatin / Shutterstock.com