COVID Vaccine Competitors, Should We Worry?

With the distribution of various COVID vaccines, things began to look up. However, Johnson & Johnson suddenly had a halt on vaccines.

Whether it’s a matter of competition among companies, though other articles still write them off as competitors, it’s clear that getting through this pandemic is what matters.

Yet, when J&J asked their competitors, Pfizer and Moderna, for help on the issue of blood clotting as a side effect, they refused to help. 

Written on CNBC, “Executives at Pfizer and Moderna said their vaccines appeared safe and they didn’t see the need to duplicate the efforts of regulators and companies already looking into the rare blood clot issue, according to the Journal report.” 

Some say that they will refrain from taking the vaccine after the halt of J&J, and others will proceed nonetheless.

The Hill wrote, “Sixty-three percent of respondents said that people should continue to get Pfizer and Moderna shots despite Johnson & Johnson blood clot concerns, while 37 percent believe that people should slow down and wait for more information before getting the vaccine, a de Beaumont poll showed.”

Majority of people do believe that we should still continue to get vaccines by Pfizer and Moderna.

Few of the members on the editorial board have a say on the matter.

In response to if this is about healing the pandemic, or if there is competition among distributors of the vaccine, one member said, “There could probably be competition between companies, but at the moment, I feel countries are just trying to get as much of the vaccines they can to hand out to the masses.”

They also said, in response to the Johnson & Johnson vaccine being temporarily suspended, “It is necessary because we are able to get vaccines created by different experts to fight the virus. Each vaccine has a different % of effectiveness and  people have a choice of which vaccine they want to choose and take.”

Lastly, another member said, generally speaking on the vaccines, “I believe that the focus of developing a vaccine for COVID-19 should, first and foremost, be helping people get vaccinated and stay safe with things like competition and profits being an afterthought. It is important to bring this up as the pharmaceutical industry has a long history of looking at healthcare from a viewpoint of how much money can be made off of this. This is also why when the dust settles on this pandemic there needs to be a big discussion on healthcare in the United States and how essential it is now more than ever. You get people to distrust doctors and medical professionals by making the system seem like it is always trying to take advantage of them over even the most minor health scare. That is why we have the widespread disinformation like we are having right now when it comes to this pandemic.”