LETTERS: Now that a number of vaccine candidates are nearing the end of their clinical trials, talk about their safety and efficacy have been making the rounds on social media.
Some opinions claming to be from vaccine experts have gone viral, with question raised on the speed of vaccine development. In stark contrast with the development of previous vaccines, which takes at least three to five years, this time it did not even take one year from the time China shared the virus' genetic profile.
Social media has been inundated with all kinds of conspiracy theories on the vaccines. According to one, the mRNA technique of producing vaccines may not be safe. They argue that the mRNA may change the DNA of people taking the vaccine, which may prove disastrous for health.
A colleague who is conversant with the science of immunology says such claims are unfounded. This colleague, who hails from Jelawat, Kelantan, and is now residing in New Zealand, questions the science behind such claims, which he says are preposterous.
He maintains that "the mRNA will enable scientists to tackle future mutations of the virus more quickly. Once we know which particular bases (A= adenine, T=thymine, G= guanine C=cytosine) are involved in the mutation of the present virus that produces a more virulent strain, we'll be able to redesign the present mRNA template to produce the new proteins of the virus.
Genetic engineering capabilities are now available to cut and paste the mRNA sequence to suit our needs."
According to Professor Datuk Dr Ghazally Ismail, who used to teach the subject at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Universiti Malaysia Sabah and was deputy vice-chancellor for research and services at University Malaysia Sarawak, "the viruses that cause other diseases are not as problematic as Covid-19 .
They don't mutate and spread as fast. It's cheaper to produce vaccines for those diseases using protein antigens".
The United States is still muddled up by the vaccine debate. The media and some political groups there criticised the president for his handling of the pandemic, especially his failure to clearly communicate legitimate health guidance to the public.
Others contend that these same parties must also share the blame for spreading misinformation and amplifying public fears, including recent attempts to undermine the efforts of the medical community to bring a safe, effective vaccine to market in record time.
It does not take long, in this Internet era, for such misinformation to spread worldwide. Some say the vaccine scare is more contagious than the virus. Maybe we can learn something from South Korea. Scientists there fought misinformation with the potent combination of data and clear communication.
The country had vastly expanded its flu vaccine programme to cover millions more people as Covid-19 spread globally. But as injections got under way, reports of deaths started popping up.
South Korean scientists quickly determined that the deaths were unrelated to the flu shots. But they were worried that if they didn't stop the panic, the public might shun the vaccines altogether.
They ramped up efforts to communicate with the public. They disclosed data on what has been found. And they quickly got the vaccination campaign back on track at a time when scientists dealing with Covid-19 are increasingly worried about the rise of the anti-vaccine movement.
Take a cue from the Korean experience, get to the science of the issue and embark on a clear communication strategy. This is critical because as anti-vaccine groups spread their bogus science, the scare will grow.
In fact, the scare may have become more infectious than the virus itself.
Professor Datuk Dr Ahmad Ibrahim
Fellow, Academy of Science, UCSI University
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times