Covid-19 Vaccines:Some ethical dilemmas

Dr B .J. C. Perera  MBBS(Cey), DCH(Cey), DCH(Eng), MD(Paed), MRCP(UK), FRCP(Edin), FRCP(Lon), FRCPCH(UK), FSLCPaed, FCCP, Hony FRCPCH(UK), Hony. FCGP(SL) 

Specialist Consultant Paediatrician and Honorary Senior Fellow, Postgraduate Institute of Medicine, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka.

There is an unprecedented interest across the globe in the currently available vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19 disease. There are many factors to consider in this endeavour to vaccinate the general population. The primary considerations are the effectiveness and safety of the vaccines while the costs, the adequacy of the supplies of the vaccines, ethics of selection of priority groups for vaccination, logistics of transportation as well as fair and equitable distribution of vaccines to all corners of the world are also important. This article will discuss some of the pros and cons of a few that are relevant to Sri Lanka.

The effectiveness of the currently licensed vaccines is by now well established. They do very significantly protect us against more severe symptomatic disease and thereby reduce the needs for intensive treatment in hospitals and of course by virtue of that, reduce the associated mortality. This is of major importance as this little blot of a coronavirus has killed over 2.7 million people all over the world and in Sri Lanka it has taken the lives of around 550 people at the time of writing of this article. The initial premise on which the researchers worked on, as stipulated by even the World Health Organisation (WHO), is a committed effort towards reducing more severe disease and mortality. Generally, a vaccine is formulated to prevent anyone catching the disease. However, that was not the initial principle on which the research was targeted.

Yet for all this, now there seems to be some accumulating evidence that the vaccines do play a part in protecting at least some recipients against catching the disease and thereby reducing transmission from humans to humans. In some recipients of the vaccine who contracted the virus, significantly lower viral loads have also been seen. All of these do combine to provide a real bonus and would help a great deal in our fight to defeat the virus. However, it must be stressed that it does not provide universal one hundred percent protection against infection by the virus. Vaccinated individuals should not, I repeat., should not, abandon safe physical distancing, avoidance of gatherings, washing of hands and wearing of masks. If the vaccinated people happen to catch the virus, even if they are asymptomatic, they can still transmit it, at least to some people. So it is very important to follow all health guidelines.

The safety profile of the vaccine was quite stringently looked at during all the clinical trials in humans before these vaccines were licensed for general use. It must be remembered that all types of any vaccine against infective diseases have the risk of developing allergic or sensitivity reactions. Some of the recipients of the vaccine against COVID-19 are also liable to get chills or feeling cold, fever, muscle pains, some abdominal symptoms and fatigue. All of these are quite short-lived, just only for a couple of days. Some more serious side-effects have been noted in the human trials but these were extremely rare and not thought to be of grave significance. The latest problem that was publicised are disturbances in the clotting of blood in vaccine recipients in some Western countries. Clots were detected in deep veins and some detached clots had gone into the blood vessels of the lungs. A lot of fuss was made on this issue, particularly by the media, which even led to temporary suspension of at least one brand of the corona vaccines. However, deep venous thrombosis is a well-known problem in the West and a scrupulous assessment of a cause-and-effect nature, has not been able to establish the vaccine to be directly responsible for these problems. In fact, after firm assurance of the safety of the vaccine being provided by the European Medicines Agency (EMA), many of those countries have restarted their vaccination programme with the incriminated vaccine. It is important also to highlight that even after giving around 800,000 or so vaccinations in Sri Lanka, this problem has not been seen here to a really significant extent, up to now. From an ethical perspective, there is everything to be gained by administering the currently used Oxford-AstraZenica vaccine in Sri Lanka.

The real ethical dilemma in our country is how to organise the administration of the limited supplies of the vaccines to cover the most vulnerable groups of our citizens. The administration of the vaccine to front -line health workers and the forces personnel in the front-line went off quite well, except for a couple of hitches initially in the provision of the vaccine for health personnel in the private sector. After that, for a couple of days, an ill-advised ad hoc decision to vaccinate those between 30 and 59 years caused a profound degree of mayhem and chaos at vaccination centres. At the present time there seems to be some order where the over 60-year-olds are given the vaccine. It took a considerable number of adverse scathing reports in the media and intense pressure brought on by many people, for sanity to prevail. Ethically, it is imperative that the carefully formulated ‘Priority List’ of groups of people for administration of the vaccine is strictly adhered to. Queue-jumpers, thugs and those with connections should be very firmly dealt with.

There are some other ethical aspects to the administration of the vaccine. There are some concerns regarding the second dose of the vaccine. In a previous article (The Island – 17th March 2021), I have explained the rationale for changing the timing of the second dose to three months after the first dose from the earlier recommended time period of one month from the first dose. So far around 800,000 or more first doses have been administered. It is imperative that we give the second dose to this cohort in three months or so from the first dose. The government must, I repeat MUST, ensure that sufficient stocks of the vaccine are kept for this group of people.

There have been some arguments put forward in certain quarters to say that we should use all available stocks to vaccinate as many people as possible with the first dose to provide even short-term immunity to as many people as possible. They make it out to be a human rights issue. This author believes that it is a more compelling question of human rights for ALL those who have already had the first dose to be given the second dose at the appropriate time, to provide them with the best possible and sustained protection. This contention would apply to even those between 30 and 59 years, who were given the first dose of the vaccine during those initial disordered days.

As far as ethics go, in view of the global shortage of vaccines, it is essential that the powers-that-be take steps to even get as many brands of the vaccines with PROVEN EFFICACY AND SAFETY RECORDS into the country. It really does not matter where these vaccines originate from. The only criteria that are of paramount importance are whether the vaccine is effective and whether it is safe.

As at present it is best to give both doses of the same vaccine to each recipient. However, when more scientific information is available, we may be able to mix vaccines if there is evidence that it would work equally well or even better when vaccines are mixed. All over the world, there are several scientific studies in progress to ascertain the usefulness of such a pathway. However, that decision should be a well-informed one, based on robust scientific evidence. It could only be made by the expert scientific medical community. It should not be made on economic, logistical or political grounds by non-medical people and most certainly not, by lay politicians, on their own accord.

The take home message for our people at the present time is that the authorities are trying their very best to provide the vaccines against this coronavirus that is running amok. The prioritised groups who are due to receive the vaccine should be reassured of the effectiveness and safety of this vaccination. Misinformation, especially through the social media, concocting of various stories of doubtful repute and spreading of false rumours, should not be allowed to scuttle the current vaccination procedures. A system of well-organised system of administration of the vaccines will go a long way towards ensuring success in this war against a tiny enemy that has the potential to bring all of us to our knees and make us sink to the lowest depths of despair.