You need to know that information on Covid-19 is constantly evolving so some of the information shared here, such as efficacy and effectiveness studies, may change over time.

Papua New Guinea has this week received the AstraZeneca vaccine thanks to the government and people of Australia.

It’s good that they are helping us, especially given the recent spike in community transmission in PNG.

The need to #FlattenTheCurve is critical, as this will enables other health conditions to be given the same priority as Covid-19 without overwhelming our health system.

I hope to do another post shortly on the documented side-effects of vaccines, and also to write about pharmacovigilance - an important process in vaccine development which involves the continuous monitoring of vaccines to identify any possible bad effects.

All these Covid-10 vaccines have gone through stringent control processes and are required to be monitored for side effects. This is normal procedure.

Comparison - The four approved Covid-19 vaccines

Note by Keith Jackson on mRNA and adenovirus vaccines

--- mRNA medicines contain instructions that direct cells in the body to make proteins to prevent or fight disease

--- adenovirus (a common cold virus) is weakened in the Covid-19 vaccine so it cannot cause disease but triggers a strong immune response in the body to fight disease