Coronavirus Vaccine: A detailed awareness roadmap on the global procurement of Covid-19 vaccine, top covid-19 vaccine candidates, covid vaccine in India, when we will have the vaccine and vaccine distribution.
With the huge escalation in Covid-19 cases, there is only one question, pitching all over the world i.e. when we will have the Coronavirus Vaccine? In newspapers and TV, regularly the news of the Coronavirus vaccine is flashing. Bulletins are coming about how China has prepared its first Covid-19 Vaccine. The USA is also legitimately updating the media about its Covid-19 Vaccine. Recently Russia has also announced its first approved Covid-19 Vaccine “Sputnik V.” So now the vital question is which Coronavirus Vaccine will be launched in the global market and when it will be available to the public? And who will be vaccinated at the first level?
In the environment of populace anxiety, “YouAware” have made a thorough research on Coronavirus Vaccine. We will inform our dear reader on Vaccine Nationalism, Global procurement of Covid-19 Vaccine (Covax Facility), Top Covid-19 Vaccine Candidates, Covid-19 Vaccine for India, Vaccine Testing and Approval process, Availability of Vaccine in Consumer Market and who will be getting the Vaccine at the First Point.
Vaccine Nationalism:
Many developed countries are now doing the pre-purchase agreement with the Covid-19 vaccine manufacturers to secure doses of vaccines for their own citizens or residents which is called “Vaccine Nationalism.”
The US has also done agreement with British-Swedish drugmaker AstraZeneca for the supplement of 400 million doses.
The major drawback of vaccine nationalism is that it puts countries with fewer resources and bargaining power at a disadvantage.
“The WHO chief on 18th July called on countries to share their supplies to fight COVID-19 strategically and globally, warning against "supply nationalism" around the development of vaccines and medicines.”
"No one country has access to research and development, manufacturing, and all the supply chain for all essential medicines and materials," said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
COVAX FACILITY (Global Procurement for Covid-19 Vaccines):
Covax Facility is a fight against Vaccine Nationalism which introduces the global procurement of Covid-19 vaccine. COVAX is co-led by Gavi (The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunizations), CEPI (the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations) and WHO, working in partnership with developed and developing country vaccine manufacturers.
More than 160 countries have expressed their interest in the Covax Facility.
These vaccines will be delivered equally to all participating countries, proportional to their populations, initially prioritizing healthcare workers then expanding to cover 20% of the population of participating countries.
Further doses will then be made available based on country need, vulnerability and COVID-19 threat. The COVAX Facility will also maintain a buffer of doses for emergency and humanitarian use, including dealing with severe outbreaks before they spiral out of control.
Top Covid-19 Vaccines Candidate:
According to the WHO Draft landscape of Covid-19 candidate vaccine on 28th July there are 25 candidate vaccines in clinical evaluation and 139 in preclinical evaluation to fight the novel Coronavirus.
Top Six COVID-19 vaccine candidates have reached the Phase 3 level, according to the WHO.
One is developed by the Oxford University and British-Swedish company AstraZeneca. Three are from China; the candidates are Sinovac, Wuhan Institute of Biological Products/Sinopharm and Beijing Institute of Biological Products/Sinopharm. The other two by US scientists; the candidates are Moderna/NIAID and BioNTech/Fosun Pharma/Pfizer.
What is Phase 1, Phase 2 and Phase 3 in Vaccine Testing?
Phase 1:
In phase 1 of clinical testing, the vaccine is given to a small group of people, usually between 20-80 subjects, to determine whether it is safe and to learn more about the immune response it provokes.
Phase 2:
A larger group of several hundred individuals participates in Phase II testing. Some of the individuals may belong to groups at risk of acquiring the disease.
Phase 3:
[Note: After a successful Phase III trial, the vaccine developer will undergo a review and approval process. The manufacturer may continue to test the vaccine for safety, efficacy, and other potential uses.]
Oxford-AstraZeneca:
The vaccine, called AZD1222, has been described by the World Health Organization’s chief scientist as the leading Covid-19 vaccine candidate in a global race.
The vaccine was developed by the Jenner Institute, a part of the Nuffield Department of Medicine at the University of Oxford. The formulation is backed by AstraZeneca PLC, a British-Swedish pharmaceutical company.
The vaccine from AstraZeneca and Britain’s University of Oxford prompted no serious side effects and elicited antibody and T-cell immune responses, according to trial results published in The Lancet medical journal, with the strongest response seen in people who received two doses.
The novel vaccine developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca is in its final leg of testing. After achieving safe and promising results in early-stage results, vaccine makers has been moved forward to outsource phase III, one of the biggest and the most crucial testing stages in different countries.
Late-stage trials are currently underway in Britain, Brazil and South Africa and the United States.
How does the Oxford-AstraZeneca Vaccine prevent Covid-19 infection?
1. The AZD1222 Coronavirus vaccine candidate, formerly known as ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, is made from a virus (ChAdOx1), which is a weakened version of a common cold virus (adenovirus) that causes infections in chimpanzees, that has been genetically changed so that it is impossible for it to grow in humans.
3. The SARS-CoV-2 Coronavirus uses its spike protein to bind to ACE2 receptors on human cells to gain entry to the cells and cause an infection. After vaccination, the surface spike protein is produced, priming the immune system to attack the Coronavirus if it later infects the body, and causes COVID-19 disease.
Note: India's apex drug regulatory body also granted approval to Serum Institute of India (SII) to conduct phase II and III human trial for the Oxford COVID-19 vaccine in India.
Covid-19 Vaccine for India:
Serum Institute of India is is the world's largest vaccine producer by number of doses produced. It is a manufacturer of immune biological drugs including vaccines in India. The company produces around 130 crore (1.3 billion) doses of vaccines each year. The products developed include tuberculosis vaccine Tubervac (BCG), Poliovac for poliomyelitis, and other vaccinations for the childhood vaccination schedule. It was founded by Cyrus Poonawalla in 1966.
He added that they expect the vaccine to reach the people of India in large numbers by the first quarter of 2021 and the vaccine will cost around Rs 1,000 in India as they don't want to make "profit" out of the pandemic
[Note: There are two other indigenously developed vaccine candidates -- Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin, jointly developed with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and Zydus Cadila’s “Zycov D.” But they both are in early phases of human clinical trials, as per the report.]
Phase 2/3 Clinical trial of “Covishield” in India:
Earlier this month, Drugs Controller General of India gave nod to conduct advanced trials in India. "Phase 2/3 clinical trial will be observer-blind, randomized, controlled study to determine the safety and immunogenicity of Covishield (COVID-19 vaccine) in healthy Indian adults," according to the study design.
Serum Institute of India has selected 17 sites in India to conduct the trial. A total of 1,600 candidates will take part in the study.
According to the Clinical Trials Registry (CTR) India, of the 1,600 subjects of the trial, 400 will be part of the immunogenicity cohort, and the remaining 1,200 will be randomly assigned in a 3:1 ratio to receive either Covishield or a placebo. Covishield will be administered as two 0.5 ml intramuscular doses on Day 1 and Day 29 of the trial.
One of the volunteers was a 48-year-old gynecologist at a private hospital in Pune who had also volunteered 10 years ago for clinical trials for a vaccine against the H1N1 (swine flu) virus. And other candidate is a 32-year-old doctoral candidate in statistics who works for a private company in the city.
Other Covid-19 Vaccine Status:
Moderna Inc, Pfizer Inc-BioNTech and Chinese firm Sinovac are all undergoing Phase III trials at present. While Pfizer, Moderna and Merck & Co have said they plan to sell their vaccines at a profit, some drug makers, including Johnson & Johnson have announced plans to price their vaccines on a not-for-profit basis. Johnson and Johnson have said it would make the Covid-19 vaccine available at $10 for “emergency pandemic use”.
Liu Jingzhen, who is the chairman of state-owned Chinese company Sinopharm, stated that the inactivated vaccine candidate will most likely be pushed out in the market by late December 2020. Talking about the price range of the vaccine candidate, he said that it will cost less than 1,000 Yuan which equates to 10,794.94 Indian Rupees.
Russia’s Covid-19 Vaccine “Sputnik-V” Status:
The announcement of “Covid-19 Vaccine “Sputnik-v” by Russia’s Prime Minister has made the whole world surprised and forced all the global authority to ask about the vaccine safety.
The World Health Organization has said that any WHO stamp of approval on a Covid-19 vaccine candidate would require a rigorous safety data review, after Russia announced it had approved a vaccine.
Vaccine Distribution (Who will get the Covid-19 Vaccination at the first point):
In June, the World Health Organization (WHO) had come out with a tentative plan of “strategic allocation” of the Coronavirus vaccine. WHO said healthcare workers should be given priority first followed by adults older than 65 and those having comorbidities such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, obesity, or chronic respiratory disease.
The Indian Council of Medical Research has said the vaccine should be made available to the health workers first. A similar view was echoed by Union Minister of State for Health Ashwini Kumar Choubey. “Our scientists are working very hard on it. Three vaccines against COVID-19 are in various stages of testing. And, if we do succeed in getting a vaccine, our COVID warriors will be the first one to receive the dose,” Choubey said.
Recently, on Independence Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the entire roadmap of vaccine production and delivery to the public in the shortest time was ready.
When will the Covid-19 vaccine available in the market?
Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Dr Harshwardhan recently said that he is confident about leading vaccine trials in the country will be wrapping up by the end of December this year, which will be followed by mass production; he suggested that India might have a vaccine ready super soon.“I hope that if everything goes well, India will get a Coronavirus vaccine by the end of this year.”
Our View:
Making the Vaccine and getting the approval is a tough process as millions of lives can be exposed to risk, if it has not been processed through complete development cycle and thoroughly tested. And moreover many countries are rushing to claim the first Covid-19 Vaccine and commercialize the Vaccine for the rest of the world.
In the COVID-19 vaccine race, nobody wins unless everyone wins because with infectious disease,
no one is safe until everyone is safe.
Dr. Seth Berkley is CEO of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.
The current time’s need is that every country should think from a humanitarian angle and save the whole world by collaborating and supporting a standard Global Covid -19 Vaccine rather than individual benefit. So we all have to keep patience and follow the hygienic and social distance principle until the Top Covid-19 Vaccine candidate clears the entire clinical test and certified for the distribution.
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