#News @ Northeastern » A COVID-19 vaccine won’t mean a swift end for wearing masks or physical distancing Comments Feed alternate Club sports were canceled abruptly amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Here’s how they could make a comeback. Unbe-leaf-able alternate alternate IFRAME: https://www.googletagmanager.com/ns.html?id=GTM-WGQLLJ Skip to content * News, Discovery, and Analysis from Around the World * Media Inquiries * (BUTTON) Explore Search Enter your search terms then press the return/enter key to submit your query. ____________________ (BUTTON) Search Popular Topics * COVID-19 * Alumni * Research * Faculty Experts * Athletics * Students * Photos & Videos * Campus, Community & Events * Faces of Northeastern * Faculty Experts * Twitter * Facebook * YouTube (BUTTON) Close (BUTTON) (BUTTON) (BUTTON) / (BUTTON) Prev (BUTTON) Next A COVID-19 vaccine won’t mean a swift end for wearing masks or physical distancing The first coronavirus vaccine won't be the silver bullet against COVID-19, says Brandon Dionne, assistant clinical professor of pharmacy and health systems sciences. Photo by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University by Roberto Molar Candanosa October 19, 2020 * Twitter * Facebook News @ Northeastern Homepage A COVID-19 vaccine won’t mean a swift end for wearing masks or physical distancing * Twitter * Facebook (BUTTON) 0% Up Next * A COVID-19 vaccine won’t mean a swift end for wearing masks or… * Why isn’t Europe joining the US and UK rush to vaccinate for… * Many Republicans don’t believe the election results, a new survey says * ‘A global disruption requires a global response’ * Northeastern's hockey teams will have fans in the stands this season (but… * All your COVID-19 vaccine questions answered * Will more states follow California’s lead in adopting new COVID-19 lockdown measures? * This new art installation fosters connection despite physical distancing measures * How to spot a counterfeit COVID-19 vaccine * Healthcare workers have been applauded as heroes. But they're skeptical the title… (BUTTON) More stories For months, researchers around the world have been rushing to develop and test a vaccine that can once and for all help end the COVID-19 pandemic. But the emergence of a vaccine won’t put an end to the need for masking, physical distancing, and other effective interventions that slow the spread of the coronavirus—at least, not for a long while, says Brandon Dionne, an assistant clinical professor of pharmacy and health systems sciences at Northeastern. Brandon Dionne, Assistant Clinical Professor Department of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. Photo by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University Pharmaceutical experts expect at least one vaccine to be approved for safe and effective use by 2021. After that, a set of manufacturing and distribution hurdles await a vaccine that will need to be distributed to more than 7.5 billion people worldwide. Even when one or more vaccines become available, Dionne says, people should remain cautious and continue to engage in protective measures outlined by public health experts. “In the early stages of the vaccine rollout, I don’t think that a vaccine should change anyone’s behaviors,” he says. “We’re still going to need to use that in conjunction with masks, social distancing, and hand hygiene—like we’ve been doing—until we have more information about how [a vaccine] actually affects transmission.” Currently, several pharmaceutical companies are racing to produce and test different types of vaccines with clinical trials. Those studies also entail a post-approval surveillance period in which scientists monitor the effects of the vaccines for months after they reach the market. After those vaccines are approved to be safe and effective, scientists will still need time to monitor the efficacy, or level of protection against the coronavirus, that the vaccines can actually provide. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration in June established that the efficacy of new COVID-19 vaccines will need to be 50 percent during Phase 3 clinical trials in order to be approved for use in the United States. Beyond that, scientists don’t have a robust way to routinely test for the protections new COVID-19 vaccines might offer in the real world, Dionne says. Creative rendition of particles of SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. Credit: NIAID Scientists still don’t have all the answers about the coronavirus–and that’s a sign of progress read more “If you’re targeting 50 percent efficacy, that means that 50 percent of people aren’t having an adequate response to the vaccine,” Dionne says. In other words, even if you receive the vaccine, it will be difficult to determine whether it actually provides immunity. The questions that will still need to be answered after vaccines roll out also include whether they will offer long-term protection against the coronavirus. “Until we answer those questions, we really can’t rely on a vaccine to be the silver bullet that will completely provide protection and get us to that herd immunity level where we can abandon all other strategies for preventing transmission of the virus,” Dionne says. Governments and organizations around the world have tried to slow and prevent the transmission of the coronavirus with strategies that range from wearing masks and reducing close contact with others, to implementing robust systems of testing and contact tracing. To caution against thinking of a potential vaccine as a universal remedy for the pandemic, Dionne asks people to think of different preventive strategies as slices of Swiss cheese, which have holes in them. If each different precaution is a cheese slice, the holes in it will keep it from being a solution on its own. But when the slices are combined—as if stacked together to cover some of those holes—those preventive measures can act as a more effective barrier to help reduce transmission. “Even if [the virus] gets through one intervention, it gets blocked by another,” Dionne says. “I view the vaccine as just another slice of cheese that hopefully blocks the holes of some other things, like mask-wearing and social distancing.” Reports of coronavirus re-infection cases have added more questions about the kind of immunity early vaccines might offer, and whether they will be able to prevent reinfection or simply reduce the symptoms of disease. During the early stages of distribution, scientists will need to determine whether their vaccines offer lifelong protection, as is the case with vaccines against rubella or measles, or temporary protection, as is the case with the flu vaccines that people should get once a year. “We’ve never had a coronavirus vaccine before,” Dionne says. “A lot of this is new science and things we’re still learning about.” Here’s what it takes to test a COVID-19 vaccine with clinical trials read more But the one question to rule them all is how such vaccines might affect the transmission rates of the coronavirus, he says. For example, some patients who get the flu vaccine can still catch and spread the disease—shedding the virus to others—even if they’re protected from flu symptoms. COVID-19, which also spreads through that kind of asymptomatic transmission, poses a similar risk. “That’s part of the whole problem with COVID-19, that a lot of people have asymptomatic spread now without a vaccine,” Dionne says. “If we have the vaccine, it may just shift the burden from symptomatic infection with COVID-19, to more of an asymptomatic but still ongoing transmission.” For now, and after a vaccine is available, Dionne says, everyone needs to do their part in the pandemic with masks, distancing, and other healthy behaviors. “That’s really what’s going to help break that transmission cycle and get us to the point where we can get back to some semblance of normalcy,” he says. “Until we have reached a point where globally we can prevent transmission, there’s always a risk that it could flare back up.” For media inquiries, please contact media@northeastern.edu. Did you like this story? (BUTTON) Thumb Up Vote Icon (BUTTON) Thumb Up Vote Icon Topics Faculty Experts & Current Events Bouvé College of Health Sciences Brandon Dionne clinical trials coronavirus COVID-19 COVID-19 pandemic pandemic SARS-CoV-2 vaccine vaccines + Twitter + Facebook Credits Roberto Molar Candanosa. Up Next * Alyssa Peckham specializes in helping individuals who suffer from opioid-use disorder. Photo by Adam Glanzman/Northeastern University ‘It’s a chronic illness, rather than a moral failure’ In 2017 alone, 47,600 Americans died from opioid overdoses. Alyssa Peckham, a clinical assistant professor in Northeastern’s Bouvé College of Health Sciences, says Americans need to change the way we think about, and address, the opioid crisis. + by Laura Castañón March 21, 2019 * Washington is in the midst of the worst measles outbreak in the state in more than 20 years. Photo by iStock. A lesson from the US measles outbreak: Vaccines don’t just protect you—they protect everyone around you “Most healthy people can tolerate the measles,” says Brandon Dionne, who studies infectious diseases at Northeastern. “The real risk is the groups of people who can’t, either because they have compromised immune systems or medical conditions that would otherwise prevent them from being immunized.” + by Molly Callahan February 13, 2019 More (BUTTON) The unique plan to fund abortions in New York City New York City officials recently set aside $250,000 to help women who travel from other states obtain abortions in the… Are immigrants good for the economy? Communities and nations that are welcoming to immigrants are more likely to realize the benefits of immigration. 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