Two more #Covid19 vaccines showing exciting results!

#Novavax is just one on the growing list of effective vaccines developed in a year: research & development at its best 🔬👩‍🔬

But digging deeper into the data the story is much more complicated 🧵 ⤵️

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👍 #Novavax looks effective against the original #Covid19 variant and a newer one first identified in the UK 🇬🇧 – both 89% efficacy.

👎But that falls to 49% against one identified in South Africa 🇿🇦.

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This is bad news.

And means the vaccines we've been waiting for might be less effective against future variants that emerge.

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🌍 So *how* we choose to vaccinate everyone is even more important:

💉Who gets the vaccine?

⏩How quickly can we get everyone vaccinated?

⏳What do we do in the meantime?

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If rich nations hoard doses and vaccinate their own populations:

🏥Health systems will become overwhelmed

🦠The virus will spread unchecked

♻️And it will mutate even more

The bottom line?
💉The vaccines we have might stop working

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To stop this, governments must support #COVAX.

🌍 COVAX is a global initiative to make sure every country has fair access to vaccines

💉Providing 2 billion doses by the end of the year

👩Reach 20% of people across 195 countries

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And in the meantime, make sure people can:

🧪 Get tested

😷 Wear masks

↔️ Keep at a safe distance

🏠 Isolate if they need to and stop the virus spreading

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If not, we’ll be back to square one.

🤦Vaccines will need updating

🤦Manufacturing process will start over

🤦And everyone will need to get vaccinated again

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