We have seen a lot of discussion over the past week about the "biosafety" of the various vaccines that have been developed to fight COVID-19.

The reported incident with the AstraZeneca vaccine has raised old concerns of potential side effects, and thus doubts.

Since the new variants of COVID-19 dominate and are currently triggering a fourth wave in Europe, general complaints and misunderstandings are considerably increased.

It is important to explain the response of different vaccines to different variants according to the latest published research.

The Pfizer vaccine is 95% effective against the original virus and about 62% against the British variant. It is less effective against South African and Brazilian variants, but it is still within a comfort range to contain the disease.

The Moderna vaccine has very similar results to that of Pfizer.

The AstraZeneca vaccine reveals moderate efficacy against the British and Brazilian variants, but low effectivity against the South African variant.

The Johnson & Johnson vaccine has shown good results against the British variant, but a lesser performance against the South African and Brazilian variants.

The Sputnik vaccine has not yet presented any credible data so far on its response to the new variants.

The Synovac vaccine also has no data available on its effectiveness against the British and South African variants, however we do know that it has a reduction of 50% in the Brazilian variant, as it was tested in Brazil during the 3rd wave.

As a result, although the effectiveness is generally lower in all vaccines in relation to the new variants, they do continue to be effective.

The principle solid effective weapons available to date, which are still strongly recommended by FEMERAID Air Rescue, are:

- the vaccination for everyone, when offered

- the reinforcement of the sanitary and hygienic preventive measures implemented since the beginning of the pandemic

- regular hand-washing, proper use of masks, social distancing, etc.

16th March 2021