Scientific research

First-generation COVID-19 vaccines: what to expect?

Professors Malik Peiris and Gabriel Leung from HKU SPH discussed the current development of the potential first generation of COVID-19 vaccines and what the world needs to consider for better allocating COVID-19 vaccines in their commentary published in The Lancet. They emphasized that although current COVID-19 vaccine candidates have been shown to be effective in reducing disease severity, their effectiveness in reducing virus transmission has not confirmed yet; hence, vaccines can only be one tool in the overall public health response to COVID-19 and unlikely to be the ultimate and the only solution. In addition, they highlighted important considerations especially vaccine allocation strategies, considering vaccine hesitancy and different situations among populations and areas. They noted that if COVID-19 vaccines have acceptable effectiveness in reducing morbidity and mortality in high-risk groups, they would have an important role in reducing disease burden, even if they cannot completely prevent epidemics from occurring.

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DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(20)31976-0

# control and mitigation measures