Challenges

Now we have explored the types of COVID-19 vaccine available, it is important to understand the challenges which remain.

Virus variants and COVID-19 vaccines

Watch the video to learn how viruses mutate and how this may impact on COVID-19 vaccination

Vaccine uptake

Effective vaccines will not work unless there is public confidence in the vaccine programme and individuals are happy to receive vaccines.

The speed of vaccine development, general mistrust in governments and misinformation have led to many individuals around the world feeling hesitant about having a COVID-19 vaccine. Professor Heidi Larson describes the issues surrounding vaccine confidence in a 2020 TEDMED talk:

Click here to view the video

Listening to concerns and questions about vaccines and communicating information well, are key to improving confidence and uptake.

Many resources have been created to support conversations around vaccination, an example called the Vaccine Handbook can be found in the additional resources section below.

Now you have learnt about the different types of vaccines, please discuss the following in the comments below: • Which vaccine types do you tend to hear about most often? • Are there any vaccine types you had not heard of before? • Which of the advantages and limitations do you think are most important to consider when developing a COVID-19 vaccine?