The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health hosted a COVID-19 briefing to discuss trials and development for a COVID-19 vaccine.
U.S. and global attitudes towards vaccines were also discussed during the briefing.
Naor Bar-Zeev, an associate professor of international health and vaccine science and deputy director of the International Vaccine Access Center at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, provided insights into how COVID-19 vaccine trials should be conducted to build public confidence and how equitable access should be prioritized.
He said there were encouraging results from phase 1 and 2 of COVID-19 vaccine trials and that a infrastructure needs to be set up before a vaccine is released to the general public.
Monica Schoch-Spana, a senior scholar with the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security and a senior scientist in the Bloomberg School’s Department of Environmental Health and Engineering, addressed the potential hesitancy of the public to embrace COVID-19 vaccines.
She stated some US residents may miss out on a vaccine or decide to opt out of getting it because they wouldn't trust the vaccine due to potential side effects or just may not have access to the vaccine like some people in the minority communities.
She also provided recommendations that stakeholders need to put in place now to overcome potential hurdles when a vaccine becomes available like establishing independent representative bodies.
