There seems to be a light at the end of the pandemic tunnel with the approval of several vaccines and the widespread rollout of vaccination campaigns around the world. But questions about vaccine acceptance persists. As part of The World’s regular series of conversations about the coronavirus, reporter Elana Gordon moderated a discussion with Harvard public opinion expert Gillian SteelFisher, who discussed public attitudes toward COVID-19 vaccines.
The AstraZeneca vaccine is 79% effective in preventing symptomatic COVID-19 and 100% effective in stopping severe disease and hospitalization; Israel holds its fourth parliamentary election on Tuesday; torrential rainfall in Australia has forced mass evacuations.
The government has secured 9 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine instead, which researchers have said is effective against moderate and severe forms of the coronavirus new variants. They have also secured millions more from the global COVAX and Pfizer.