Why is the Oxford-Astrazenca COVID-19 Vaccine Super Flash? This is the answer of young Indonesian scientists

AKURAT.CO, It is no secret that vaccine development is a long and complex process. Because it involves many parties, including the public to the private sector, vaccine development and production will usually take a long time.

In fact, as revealed by historyofvaccine.org, the process of developing a vaccine can often take up to 10-15 years.

However, the production of various COVID-19 vaccines, such as Pfizer, Sinovac, Johson & Johson, Sputnik V, to Oxford-Astrazenca, took only a short time. This question often arises in the minds of the world community and is often the reason why some people are afraid to be vaccinated against COVID-19.

In its coverage, the BBC, for example, discussed why the Oxford-Astrazenca vaccine could be done quickly. In fact, according to the BBC, the production of the vaccine only takes about 10 months. While it is known, the relevant scientists did not cut the stages in the manufacture of the vaccine.

“Ten years of vaccine work was accomplished in about 10 months. But there are no cutting corners in designing, testing and manufacturing,

“Those are two statements that sound contradictory, and have led some to ask how we can be sure that the Oxford vaccine – which has published its first results showing it is highly effective in stopping Covid-19 – is safe when produced so quickly,” the BBC wrote in the report. titled Oxford Vaccine: How Did They Make It So Fast?”.

In its coverage, the BBC then explained a number of reasons why the Oxford-Astrazenca vaccine could be made super fast. These include the matter of obtaining easy manufacturing costs due to the pandemic to developing a vaccine for ‘disease X’ since previous years.

In other words, the work on a COVID-19 vaccine starting when the pandemic started is a misnomer, and scientists have proven not to take shortcuts to develop a vaccine.

This was also revealed by a young Indonesian scientist who was involved in the development of the Oxford-Astrazenca vaccine, Dr Carina Joe.

In her talk show with the Indonesian Ambassador to the United Kingdom and Ireland, Desra Believe, Carina emphasized a similar explanation. He emphasized that the work on the Oxford-Astrazenca COVID-19 vaccine has gone through the applicable stages.

It was also explained how in the process, scientists did not take ‘shortcuts’. According to Carina, everything is in accordance with the rules and all sources and funding are easy to obtain, making vaccines can be achieved quickly.

“Actually I understand the feelings of the community, it’s very human, right, because the vaccine is made quickly. Only 1.5 years have been completed. But the previous vaccines took 10 years to be accepted and used in the community.

“But what I explain to the public is that we do not take ‘shortcuts’ or shortcuts (for vaccine development). We carry out all processes ‘by the book’, in accordance with applicable regulations.

“Why is it fast because we do it in parallel. If previous vaccines, they did it step by step (in stages). First, reconstruct then get old funding, 3 years new, then clinical trial, then to the ‘health regulator’ (the agency) health). So one on one.

“This one is due to an emergency. So we use all the resources (sources) we have to make this vaccine so that the pandemic ends quickly,” said Carina while explaining how during the manufacture, she and her team worked every day without taking a day off.

In addition, Carina also answered questions about public concerns about the alleged rare case of side effects of ‘thromboembolism’ or blood clots from the Oxford-Astrazenca vaccine. As is known, the Oxford-Astrazenca vaccine had become the main headline because it was associated with a number of thromboembolic cases in the recipients of the vaccine.

Because of this issue, the implementation of the Oxford-Astrazenca vaccination was postponed by a number of European countries to Asia. They include Austria, Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Italy, Spain, Bulgaria, Italy, Thailand and even Indonesia.

Responding to the issue, Carina also gave a similar explanation as the European Union Drug Supervisory Agency (EMA) last March. At that time, EMA confirmed that it had not found any indication if the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine was able to trigger blood clots. The EMA also believes that the benefits of the Oxford-AstraZeneca injection far outweigh the risks of side effects.

Carina also said that the case of blood clots only occurred when the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine was mass-launched. While it is known, during clinical trials, there is no such case.

“Yes (cases) of blood clots, yes. There are (cases). But the cases are very rare, but we didn’t see those cases when doing clinical trials. (At that time) We had tens of thousands of patients and we didn’t see any blood cloths. ) this.

“And the risk is very rare. Out of one in a million people…and that (blood clotting) is famous because the vaccine is still new and at the beginning we didn’t know who might have a higher risk of getting the blood cloth. this.

“And now, these issues are gone because we know patients who shouldn’t need or can’t receive access to the AstraZeneca vaccine. Or have these symptoms of blood clots, we know how to deal with them so they don’t happen. ) fatal as it used to be,” said Carina.

Carina then added that actually every drug or vaccine has side effects. In fact, according to him, paracetamol, which is commonly used to reduce fever and relieve pain, can cause blood clots. However, it is still used by the wider community because of its benefits. Therefore, in the implementation of the vaccine, the doctor must have pocketed the patient’s medical history.

“Paracetamol also has side effects of blood clotting, but it’s still considered a general drug. This (the issue of blood clotting side effects of the AstraZeneca vaccine) is excited because it’s new.

“All vaccines have side effects, so doctors must determine which vaccine is suitable for each individual,” Carina said.

“But I said, all drugs or all vaccines have side effects, and not all one vaccine is suitable for everyone, and we have to weigh the risks. The risk of getting COVID-19 or the risk of blood clots is higher.

Carina’s colleague, who also took part in research on the development of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, Indra Rudiansyah also revealed the same thing. According to him, chemotherapy drugs have the effect of damaging body cells, but they are still used because of their greater benefits.

“Yes, Carina said that’s right. So all these drugs, there are side effects and also benefits. But why are they still being used, for example chemotherapy drugs, chemotherapy is very ‘destructive’ for the body. But because the basic benefits are higher than the risks, in the end still in use.

“It’s the same with AstraZeneca too. Why are there no cases of bloodcloth in our clinical trials. Even though at that time, we had recruited 20 thousand people. But during the mass deployment, issues like that emerged, which we At first, I didn’t know whether it was correlated with the vaccine or not. What does it mean? Even if there is a correlation, then this incident is very, very rare because the number of volunteers (volunteers) of tens of thousands was not detected, but was only detected when millions of people were vaccinated.

“It means we catch this response. It means we have to re-examine why it happened like that and can avoid it … But the report from this vaccine is quite good because it can capture a very rare signal response, so we know how to deal with it,” said Indra when The Governor of Central Java, Ganjar Pranowo, was asked about the issue of the effect of blood clots on the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. []

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