In this perspective, we discuss the importance of developing a vaccine to help curb transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. The question remains: Once a safe and effective vaccine is developed, will the public be willing to get it? We present information from one of the first tracking polls to assess public attitudes and perceptions toward a possible coronavirus disease 2019 vaccine that suggests public hesitancy over a potential vaccine, concern regarding accelerating clinical trials, and unease over the vaccine approval process. Public health experts, government officials, advocates, and others in the scientific community should respect the signals of hesitancy and communicate sensitivity, applying lessons not only to how we message, but also in how we build this urgently needed vaccine if we are to have successful uptake once available.
In this perspective, we discuss the importance of developing a vaccine to help curb transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The question remains: once a safe and effective vaccine is developed, will the public be willing to get it? We present information from one of the first tracking polls to assess public attitudes and perceptions towards a possible Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine that suggests public hesitancy over a potential vaccine, concern regarding accelerating clinical trials, and unease over the vaccine approval process. Public health experts, government officials, advocates, and others in the scientific community should respect the signals of hesitancy and communicate sensitivity, applying lessons not only to how we message, but also in how we build this urgently needed vaccine if we are to have successful uptake once available.
In: Gurdasani , D , Bear , L , Bogaert , D , Burgess , R A , Busse , R , Cacciola , R , Charpak , Y , Colbourn , T , Drury , J , Friston , K , Gallo , V , Goldman , L , Greenhalgh , T , Hyde , Z , Kuppalli , K , Majumder , M , Martin-Moreno , J M , McKee , M , Michie , S , Mossialos , E , Nouri , A , Pagel , C , Pimenta , D , Popescu , S , Priesemann , V , Rasmussen , A L , Reicher , S , Ricciardi , W , Rice , K , Silver , J , Smith , T C , Wenham , C , West , R , Yarney , G , Yates , K & Ziauddeen , H 2020 , ' The UK needs a sustainable strategy for COVID-19 ' , The Lancet , vol. 396 , no. 10265 , pp. 1800-1801 . https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)32350-3
The UK is well into the second wave of COVID-19, with 60 051 lives lost to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection to date, according to provisional data from the Office for National Statistics. Official UK Government data show that cases have been rising exponentially since late August, 2020, with increases across all regions in England in recent weeks. As of Nov 4, 2020, the UK had 25 177 confirmed daily cases. These are almost certainly underestimates as between Oct 17 and Oct 23, 2020, England alone had 52 000 estimated daily cases. Estimates of the effective reproduction number in England vary between 1.1 and 1.6. Daily deaths have doubled every fortnight since early September, 2020, with 2067 deaths from COVID-19 in the past week and around 12 000 deaths more are likely in the next month—the majority among people who have already been infected. With 12 000 patients currently in hospital with COVID-19, health services are close to capacity in many regions. We are seeing more than 1400 daily hospital admissions in England, a single doubling period away from the peak of 3000 daily admissions that occurred in April, 2020, which could be reached within 2–3 weeks.