Saturday, August 15, 2020

SARS-CoV-2 vaccine updates from the EU, India, Russia, UK and US

Report by : Gan Yung Chyan, KUCINTA SETIA


Global research on SARS-CoV-2 (covi, in short) vaccines has made progress. Below are updates from the world.

EU reaches agreement with AstraZeneca

The European Commission announced on Friday (15 August 2020) that it had reached a purchase agreement with AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals. Once the latter's vaccine proves to be safe and effective, it will purchase 300 million doses of the vaccine from the company and have the right to purchase an additional 100 million doses. This is the first SARS-CoV-2 vaccine purchase agreement reached by the European Union.

SARS-CoV-2 vaccines in India under trial

Global research on SARS-CoV-2 (covi, in short) vaccines has made progress. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Saturday that India has three SARS-CoV-2 vaccines in the trial phase. Once scientists determine that they are safe to use, India will carry out mass production and ensure that every Indian citizen has access to the vaccine.

Modi announced the news at the Independence Day celebration that day. In the face of the pandemic, India is rushing to develop a vaccine. According to Indian media reports, one of the vaccine manufacturers Bharat Biotech International's vaccine will undergo the second phase of human clinical trials in September.

India has an estimated 60,000 new confirmed covid cases every day. The cumulative number of cases in India exceeds 2.527 million, the third most in the world, behind the United States and Brazil.

Modi also announced on Saturday the establishment of a national digital health department, which will comprehensively digitize patient medical records, doctor registrations, and medical files across the country to improve the health care system. Under the new plan, every Indian citizen will have a health identity card.

Russia has produced the first batch of vaccines

Russia announced on Saturday that it has produced the first batch of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines. Russian media reported that the Russian Ministry of Health issued a statement stating that the first batch of vaccines developed by the Gamaleya Institute, a Russian national research institution, has been put into production.

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on Tuesday that a vaccine developed in this country has completed more than a month of human trials, and Russia has become the first country in the world to successfully develop and approve a covi vaccine for covid. Putin even revealed that his daughter has been vaccinated. 

However, the vaccine trial has not yet been completed, and the final phase of clinical trials with more than 2,000 people just started this week. Both scientists and the World Health Organization have reservations about the safety and effectiveness of vaccines, and believe that strict safety inspections are still required.

UK orders six preparatory vaccines

The UK government announced on Friday that it has signed an order for the purchase of 90 million doses of covi vaccines with Novavax and Janssen. Novavax will provide 60 million doses of the vaccine, and Janssen Pharmaceuticals will provide 30 million doses. The information on global candidate vaccines released by the World Health Organization recently shows that these two vaccines are already in the first and second phases of clinical trials.

The UK has ordered six preparatory vaccines, totaling nearly 350 million doses. Bingham, chairman of the British government's vaccine working group, said that since most vaccine trials have ended in failure, this approach is actually a multi-faceted bet.

US develops SARS-CoV-2 strain for human vaccine challenge tests

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) said on Friday that US scientists have begun to develop a strain of the SARS-CoV-2 that can be used in human vaccine challenge tests.

This requires healthy volunteers to be vaccinated and then infected with the virus to test whether the vaccine can work. However, some researchers pointed out that it is not appropriate to do so, because if the volunteers become severely ill, the researchers will not have any treatment to save their lives in time.

The plan is in its preliminary stage. The authorities said that considering the controversy of this type of experiment, they estimate that a decision will not be made until the end of the year. At that time, the results of some covi vaccine trials are generally known, which can help them determine whether this vaccine challenge trial is safe and feasible.


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Pictures copyright by : Gan Yung Chyan, KUCINTA SETIA