Dr. del Rio on Remaining Questions With the COVID-19 Vaccines

Carlos del Rio, MD, executive associate dean, Emory School of Medicine and Grady Health System, distinguished professor, Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Disease, Emory University School of Medicine, professor, Hubert Department of Global Health-Rollins School of Public Health, co-director, Emory Center for AIDS Research, co-primary investigator, Emory-CDC HIV Clinical Trials Unit and the Emory Vaccine and Treatment Evaluation Unit, Emory Vaccine Center, discusses remaining questions with the COVID-19 vaccines.

With 2 different COVID-19 vaccines available for commercial use, questions surrounding duration of immunity and efficacy against different variants of the virus remain unknown, says del Rio. The clinical studies of the vaccines are still under way, so these questions are still in the process of being answered, del Rio says.

Getting the vaccine to the general public was important despite these remaining questions because of the high morbidity and mortality associated with COVID-19, concludes del Rio.