Globally, as of 6:08pm CET, 7 February 2022, there have been 394,381,395 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 5,735,179 deaths, reported to whom. As of 7 February 2022, a total of 10,045,314,770 vaccine doses have been administered. Explore the interactive timeline showcasing how the organization has taken action on information, science, leadership, advice, response and resourcing. This interactive dashboard/map provides the latest global numbers and numbers by country of COVID-19 cases on a daily basis. Equitable access to safe and effective vaccines is critical to ending the COVID-19 pandemic, so it is hugely encouraging to see so many vaccines proving and going into development. WHO is working tirelessly with partners to develop, manufacture and deploy safe and effective vaccines.
Safe and effective vaccines are a game-changing tool: but for the foreseeable future we must continue wearing masks, cleaning our hands, ensuring good ventilation indoors, physically distancing and avoiding crowds.
Being vaccinated does not mean that we can throw caution to the wind and put ourselves and others at risk, particularly because research is still ongoing into how much vaccines protect not only against disease but also against infection and transmission.
See WHO’s landscape of COVID-19 vaccine candidates for the latest information on vaccines in clinical and pre-clinical development, generally updated twice a week. WHO’s COVID-19 dashboard, updated daily, also features the number of vaccine doses administered globally, with more detail provided on the dedicated COVID-19 vaccination dashboard. At a regional level, there is an AFRO COVID-19 vaccines dashboard and a PAHO COVID-19 vaccines deliveries dashboard.
But it’s not vaccines that will stop the pandemic, it’s vaccination. We must ensure fair and equitable access to vaccines, and ensure every country receives them and can roll them out to protect their people, starting with the most vulnerable.
In countries where vaccines are manufactured, national or regional regulators oversee a vaccine’s development. This includes approving clinical trials, evaluating their results, and taking decisions on licensing. In deciding, regulators must refer to very strict international standards on acceptable ethical clinical practice.
Once a vaccine has been developed, national regulators decide whether to introduce a vaccine in their countries. WHO provides information to support this process, through comprehensive evaluation of the available evidence, and its regularly updated position papers on vaccines.
Vaccines are very safe. As with all medicines, side effects can occur after getting a vaccine. However, these are usually very minor and of short duration, such as a sore arm or a mild fever. More serious side effects are possible, but extremely rare.
A person is far more likely to be seriously harmed by a disease than by a vaccine. Vaccine-preventable diseases like measles, meningitis or polio can be deadly, or cause severe illness and disability. Possible complications of these diseases can include:
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The most commonly used vaccines we have today have been in use for decades, with millions of people receiving them safely every year.
In addition, there are several new vaccines under development. If approved, these will help prevent more life-threatening diseases – such as Zika or Nipah viruses - or improve the effectiveness of existing vaccines.
As with all medicines, every vaccine needs to go through extensive and rigorous testing before it can be introduced in a country. Once they are in use, they must be continuously monitored to make sure they are safe for the people who receive them.
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Once a promising vaccine is identified, it will firstly undergo scrupulous laboratory testing. This includes careful examination and testing of the vaccine and its ingredients. These tests evaluate the safety of the vaccine, and how well it prevents a disease.
If positive results are achieved in the lab, a manufacturer can then apply to do clinical trials. These trials typically involve several thousand healthy volunteers participants on a voluntary basis, whose safety is ensured by national regulatory authorities. The trials are bound by strict regulations and take place across three main phases:
- During Phase I, small groups (for instance, approximately 20-50 people) receive the vaccine. This phase will assess the safety, side effects, appropriate dosage, method of administration and composition of the vaccine.
- In Phase III, the vaccine is usually given to thousands of people to help ensure it is safe and effective for broader use.
The results of all these studies will be assessed when regulators decide whether to approve a vaccine.
Studies may also take place after a vaccine is introduced. They enable scientists to monitor efficacy and safety among an even larger number of people, over a longer timeframe.
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