Dr Sat Dushyanthen is a VCCC educator and science communicator who specialises in new and engaging technologies in online education. Sat leads the development of Australia’s only online Master of Cancer Sciences program. Her PhD was in breast cancer immunology.
For the better part of 2020 in Victoria, we were indoors, in lockdown and physically isolated yet ever connected through technology. On March 11, 2020 the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the novel coronavirus outbreak a global pandemic. And as the virus spread, an equally insidious and virulent enemy was invading our global networks - the misinformation and disinformation infodemic was upon us.
As our plight unfolded in the media, we began to watch coronavirus case numbers like the daily weather report, getting information from an infinite number of sources; both verified and unverified. We became part of a new social dilemma. For the first time in history technology and social media have been used on a massive scale to keep people informed, safe and connected. Unfortunately, this same technology has enabled and amplified misinformation echo chambers, nurturing mistrust in governments and health authorities.
We saw a rise in the frequency of protests, conspiracy theories and fake news on social media. In a political twist of fate, Facebook silenced Australian health organisations and government departments just as vaccine campaigns were about to start. It was a crucial moment for the public-sharing of credible, evidence-based information about vaccines, and highlighted a public perception of how politics has overshadowed and cast doubt upon public health responses.
A degree of scepticism is a healthy thing. After all, we went from the threat of a pandemic to have a solution within the space of a year. Anyone who understands drug development will know it usually takes years - 10 on average - for new therapeutics to be approved.
The COVID-19 vaccine development rate is unprecedented for any scientific discovery and one which will undoubtedly have a huge impact on the pace of drug discovery going forward.
Most recent reports suggest that up to 36 per cent of people are hesitant about the vaccine campaign - despite the Australian government spending over $20 million on communications. Effective vaccine rollout relies heavily on public confidence, and viral misinformation can adversely affect that confidence, leading to vaccine hesitancy. So what ARE the facts?
Many factors contributed to the speed of development of the COVID-19 vaccines. Governments invested heavily in global agreements such as Operation Warp Speed and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations to ensure accelerated vaccine development. Manufacturers and distributors worked together on funding, resources and facilities to develop a quicker product pipeline. Elsewhere, people working on other vaccines pivoted their research to COVID-19. The emergence of newer platform technologies such as mRNA reduced manufacturing time. The research happened to be in the right place at the right time – it did not happen overnight.
Video from Science in Motion made by Dr Sat Dushy to make science accessible
In many studies, phases were run concurrently, and mass production started before the trials ended. There was a lot of interest in volunteering for the trials, where normally recruitment can take much longer. Additionally, there was a lot of disease in the community, allowing endpoints of studies to be reached faster. Finally, in countries that were really struggling to contain the disease, fast-tracked emergency-use authorisation was granted by regulators through rolling reviews and interim results. In Australia, vaccines have had the full approval process, meaning that every bit of data was required and rigorously scrutinised for approval.
The media buzzword right now is ‘variants of concern’. Recent reports suggest that vaccines like the Oxford/Astra Zeneca and Novavax are not effective against the South African variant. So far, the vaccines have been proven overwhelmingly effective in preventing symptomatic COVID-19, severe disease, and hospitalisations – this is the primary goal of the vaccination programs.
The missing piece is to what degree the vaccines will stop people from transmitting the virus to others. The longer we stay unprotected, the more chance there is for new variants to arise, and currently, the supply cannot keep up with global demand, which is why the locally producible Oxford/Astra Zeneca vaccine is so attractive.
Health experts suggest that ending the COVID-19 pandemic relies heavily on the vast majority of people getting vaccinated to safely reach herd immunity, and limit the ability of the coronavirus to spread. To reach herd immunity, we need almost 70-80% of the world to be vaccinated. That is a lot of people. Something like 6.2 billion. This highlights concerns relating to the phenomenon of ‘vaccine hoarding’ by rich nations and is becoming a topic of heated debate globally. Should we be prioritising based on a country’s need or means? Opening up international travel, and recovery of global economies is highly dependent on our neighbours across oceans being vaccinated too. We do not know yet if vaccination will be able to achieve this and in a timely manner.
There are reports that poorer nations will not vaccine adequate numbers until 2025. Some countries like India have recently reported 240 new strains of COVID-19. If these, potentially vaccine-resistant variants begin to circulate globally, where does that leave us? We are already facing the likelihood of needing to follow up booster or multivalent vaccines (containing all circulating strains at the time) to target the few rising variants we have now. This strategy is much like the seasonal flu vaccines, which incidentally are usually approved with only 50 per cent efficacy. Until the hype perpetuated by media over-reporting, most of us have been happy enough to participate in vaccination programs for an overseas holiday.
The pandemic has brought uncertainty. It is natural to feel unnerved by so much information and it’s important to remember that we would all like to return safely to what we used to consider a normal life.
From challenge comes change. So let's all choose to challenge misinformation. Engage respectfully in conversations about vaccination, exchange information and perspectives, check your sources and think before sharing unverified information.
This is a race against time and a race against variants. If you have the opportunity and are able to have the vaccine, inquire with your trusted health provider and jab up. Be a global citizen. Not just for you, but for all our friends, family, colleagues, parents, grandparents and neighbours. The reality is that no one is entirely safe until everyone is safe.
Video from Science in Motion made by Dr Sat Dushy discussing COVID-19 vaccine conspiracy theories
Sat was recently appointed an Ex-officio member of the VCCC Strategic Program Steering Group - Program 10 Digital Oncology Learning Hub.
