Coronavirus Vaccine: When to Expect One

As the world is still in the process of accepting the new normal, several countries have already started to experience what is known as the second wave of the coronavirus. With the number of cases climbing every day and the death toll increasing, people still await the miracle coronavirus vaccine that could save the world from further loss. Multiple countries started to work on it as soon as the virus emerged in China. However, none of the vaccines are finalized to be approved yet.

According to WHO, there are 42 candidate vaccines in clinical evaluation globally while 10 have reached Phase 3 trials which is the last stage of testing before approval.

China

China, initially the worst hit by the pandemic, has been directing experimental vaccines to thousands of people before they were completely proven by clinical trials as being secure. This was done under an emergency use program approved by the Chinese government itself. The vaccine was administered to frontline workers and the employees traveling to high-risk areas under China’s Belt and Road infrastructure investment scheme, raising ethical concerns.

“After the approval, we communicated and informed the relevant representatives from the WHO office in China and gained the understanding and support of the WHO,” said an official of China’s National Health Commission, Zheng Zhongwei, on Friday, 25th September.

WHO’s assistant director-general for access to medicines and health products, Dr. Mariângela Simão, went on to explain that, “Countries have autonomy according to their national regulations and legislations to issue emergency use authorizations for any health product, and China and other countries have already done so for different products. And WHO has emergency use listing provisions and has issued already several products for diagnostics.”

The state-owned China National Biotec Group Corporation, Sinopharm, has developed vaccines that are yet to pass the Phase 3 trials. Talking about the vaccine, the company’s general counsel Zhou Song said, “There was not a single case that demonstrated significant negative effects, nor was anyone infected,”.

The trials for the vaccine are being conducted in the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Peru, Morocco, and Argentina. Another Chinese company, Sinovac Biotech, has made a vaccine that is also undergoing Phase 3 trials under China’s emergency use program. The UAE is the first foreign country that approved a Chinese vaccine from Sinopharm for limited use.

United States

As for the U.S, the approval of the vaccine gained immense importance after President Trump constantly argued that it would be available before the elections. However, the US biotech firm, Moderna’s, CEO reported that it won’t seek emergency use authorization for its vaccine until November 25.

There are four US-backed firms that have their vaccines in the last stage of the trial. These include Moderna, Pfizer, AstraZeneca, and Johnson & Johnson. Participants in both Moderna’s and Pfizer’s trials had experienced similar symptoms after taking the vaccine: High fever, body aches, bad headaches, and exhaustion. However, talking to CNBC, they said that the discomfort was worth it if it meant protection from the virus. Health officials in the US hope to have at least one vaccine approved by the end of this year.

UK

The British pharmaceutical giant, AstraZeneca is working in collaboration with the University of Oxford scientist on the COVID-19 vaccine. According to a report in The Times, the vaccine is in the last stage of trials and could be cleared for use by Christmas in December. The UK government has already ordered 100 million doses of the Oxford vaccine once the vaccine is successful. Their Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation plans on giving the vaccine to high-risk people first including those above 65s and those with serious health diseases.

Russia

In the frenzied global race to end the pandemic, Russia is wasting no time in conducting mass public vaccinations against which concerns have been raised by some observers questioning its safety. However, Alexander Gintsburg, the CEO of the Gameleya Institute, the primary firm whose vaccine is in the last stage currently, assured that all guidelines for testing are being strictly followed to ensure efficacy.

The first 5,000 volunteers were vaccinated on September 9 whose interim results would be generated after the first 42 days of monitoring, sometime after October 21. Another unconventional move was done by Moscow was when they injected high-risk people from the general public on September 8.

So far, they have vaccinated 40,000 people who are being monitored. Gintsburg confirmed that minor side-effects were observed in only 15% of the participants. He further said that the vaccine was aimed to be 75% or more effective than a placebo, which is 50% above the threshold set by the U.S Food and Drug Administration. Russia plans to extend its testing in other countries including Belarus, Brazil, and India.

Germany

Meanwhile, in Germany, three firms, BioNTech, CureVac, and an unlisted biotech firm, IDT Biologika, are working on developing the vaccine. CureVac is in the mid-stage of testing the vaccine and aims to do a global trial with 30,000 volunteers. The first patient has already been inoculated in the trial taking place in Peru and Panama.

IDT Biologika has just gained approval from Germany’s vaccine regulator to conduct human trials of an experimental vaccine. The trial will be done on 30 volunteers aged between 18 and 55 who will be injected with two vaccinations at four-week intervals. As for BioNTech, it is working in partnership with the U.S firm, Pfizer, and is in the last stage of trials.

 

There are two vaccines currently in the second stage of the trials, one belonging to the partnership of Anhui Zhifei Longcom Biopharmaceutical with the Institute of Microbiology, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the other belonging to the German firm CureVac. The rest of the 30 are still in their initial stages and belong to different countries including Korea, India, Japan, China, and the UK.

It is still unclear that which country would win the race of getting the vaccine approved first. However, with Russia’s mass testing, it is possible that it might win though the question of ethical testing still stands.  With the U.S and China hopeful about releasing the vaccine before the end of this year, a better start to the year 2021 can be expected.

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